


To intervene

by apathyinreverie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, No Bashing, Not Steve Friendly, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Sokovia Accords, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark-centric, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-05-13 14:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 69,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14750820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apathyinreverie/pseuds/apathyinreverie
Summary: The one where Rhodey stages an intervention after the whole Ultron fiasco and Tony re-evaluates his position on the team. Consequently, Tony is a little more removed from the Avengers and even has enough extra time on his hands to go talk to all theothersuperhumans who just might want to have some input on the Accords.Ultimately: What would have happened if the Accords had not entirely hinged on the agreement ofjustthe Avengers?





	1. Ranting intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had this idea yesterday and just started writing, but I have absolutely no idea where this is going to go. I don't know whether it will be slow build, multi-chapter, world-buildy, all or none of the above. I don't even know whether there will be pairings and whether Civil War will happen at all... I honestly have no clue whatsoever XD

Despite what everyone says, Tony Stark _can_ in fact take a hint.

Admittedly, he might need it spelled out for him in giant fucking letters sometimes – especially, for anything requiring interpersonal skills - but he _will_ reach the desired conclusion eventually.

And after the whole Ultron fiasco, one of those big-ass lettered sign is very clearly saying that the team doesn't want him anywhere near them. They make that pretty fucking clear.

Because Tony _tries_ in those first few weeks. Tries to fix things with the team, tries to make things better, tries to make amends in any way, shape or form he can think of.

He is rewarded with snide comments, brush offs, glares, accusations.

And he gets it. Really, he does.

He _knows_ he fucked up with Ultron. But his guilt is _already_ eating him alive and he would have loved some support from his team. He really doesn't need the helpful reminders of just how wrong everything went, _thank you very much_.

But considering the shit he put them through with his last fuck up, he thinks it's only natural that they might want to keep him at arm's length for now. Until the dust settles. Until they are hopefully, _hopefully_ able and willing to deal with him again.

He pushes down the cynical voice in his head reminding him that it’s apparently only _his_ part in Ultron's creation that is entirely unforgivable, but Bruce's is never even mentioned. And Wanda actually working _with_ Ultron is somehow easily forgotten.

Because Wanda is now living with the team and Bruce has already taken off to god knows where.

So much for that friendship.

And the team is clearly all too willing to replace Tony. They don’t seem to miss him at all.  

So, Tony takes the hint.

He starts locking himself away in his workshop whenever possible and tries to _fix_ things in different ways. He invents better weapons for the team, updates their gear, modifies the Compound according to their demands. He attends press conferences for damage control, sends relief to Sokovia and South Africa, gives interviews and settles lawsuits.

Anything to distract himself from how incredibly silent it is in his workshop. Because JARVIS is gone.

His breath stutters every time he even thinks about it, chest constricting whenever he automatically asks JARVIS for something and every time - for just a moment - being surprised when JARVIS _doesn't_ immediately answer.

His workshop is silent. Sometimes he doesn’t speak to a single person for days. His team is happy to have him out of their hair, Pepper gets texts, Rhodey gets voicemails and everyone else has to content themselves with emails.

Tony is grieving and sometimes it feels like the silence is slowly crushing his soul.

It goes on for about a month.

And then, his Rhodey bear stages an intervention.

+++

Tony blinks at Rhodey.

Rhodey is in his workshop.

How did Rhodey get into his workshop?

"Hi?" Tony's voice is a scratchy. But staying awake for 48 hours straight, without food or any sort of human interaction, will do that to you.

He swallows and then pastes on a bright smile that is not entirely faked because Rhodey is one of the few people he will always be happy to see.

He tries again. "It's my Rhodey bear! What brings you to my burrow?"

"Tones." The friendly exasperation in his best friend's voice is so _normal_ that it almost makes Tony want to cry. "You didn't answer my messages."

Yep, definite reprimand in his platypus' voice.

"Messages? I didn't get any messages. Oh no, they must have gotten lost somewhere!" Tony claims dramatically.

Rhodey just looks at him and Tony barely manages to keep up his smile. But the expected comment doesn't come, instead there is silence. It stretches. And he wants to fill it, but he is _tired_. And all out of witty commentary at the moment.

His best friend is watching him intently, before finally huffing, releasing some of the built-up tension.

"You've been locked in here for days. You haven't replied to any of my messages. You've been talking in press conferences and interviews and commentaries. But you haven't said a single word to me. We're having a heart-to-heart." Rhodey points imperiously at the couch in his workshop.

Heart-to-heart. It's their code word for serious, no-holding-back, all-filters-off, bare-it-all conversations.

Tony called it that once in jest back in college. When they still had to have these regularly because they just couldn't read each other all that well yet, when both of them were so much more insecure and when they still felt like their newest teenage drama was the worst that could possibly _ever_ happen to them. The name stuck.

And honestly it's exactly what Tony needs. A chance to just get everything off his chest. And apparently, Rhodey is in the same boat.

So, they talk.

As usual, they get past the important stuff pretty quickly. Apologies, accusations, self-recrimination, observations, assurances, explanations. It's messy but so very easy at the same time. Whatever is mentioned is already forgiven and it is only really an exercise in getting things off your chest. By the end of it, Tony is sprawled on the couch and Rhodey on the floor, both of them utterly exhausted and neither of them entirely sober.

After the personal stuff, they've now moved on to more general topics.

Tony is doing his best to translate the mess of parallel trains of thoughts and multiple calculations of various outcomes that are running through his head at any given time, into coherent sentences - _and depending on how the press conference goes tomorrow, there might be problems with the interview in Sokovia next week and if Sokovia decides to_ really _put their foot down then Europe might join them out of solidarity which might drop SI stock in Europe and that might affect the stocks in China which will then_ definitely _impact SI stock in the US and after the hit it already took from Ultron that might actually give Congress ideas and then_ that _hearing could get pretty hard-ass but there are some things I will not budge on no matter what and that might drop my political standing_ here _which could affect the Avengers' standing as well and that will make it harder to get a visa for Wanda which is apparently my responsibility as I have been informed, but if Sokovia is still pissed off and my political standing here isn't sufficient to push it through_...

Thankfully, his best friend is probably the one person who not only knows Tony well enough to understand his babbling but Rhodey is also a genius in his own right. And he _knows_ just how _much_ Tony's brain processes at any given moment. Back in college, Rhodey was actually the first to figure out what Tony's problem with communicating his thoughts to others was.

No one had ever thought to tell fourteen year old Tony that other people's brains didn't in fact run on multiple fully thought-out trains of thought at once. It had been a revelation. It's also the reason why they came up with their heart-to-hearts in the first place. Because sometimes even Rhodey needed an explanation for some of the shit, Tony had thought would be a brilliant idea at the time.

And Tony _missed_ this. He is so fucking sorry for always pushing his friends - Rhodey, Pepper, Happy - aside in favor of the team. Always having something to do for the Avengers, with the Avengers, in the name of the Avengers, to clean up for the Avengers, to build something for the Avengers, and so on. And somewhere along the line he had apparently stopped hanging out with his friends altogether.

Tony sucks as a friend.

He says as much to Rhodey.

Rhodey immediately agrees, "Yeah, you kind of do, Tones. But it's not like any of us are any better. Especially in the recent, fuck what has it been, years?"

Tony honestly has no idea what Rhodey is talking about. Because his platypus is perfect.

Rhodey clearly sees his confusion as well and before Tony can even say anything, his best friend is sitting up and gesticulating wildly, his frustration simply boiling over.

"I’m definitely not a shining example of friendship! I never said a fucking _word_. Not _once_ did I say anything against those fuckers, with their self-righteous, egomaniac, egocentric, minimalistic world views. Who are now even living in your house, off your money, demanding more time, more resources, more equipment all the fucking time. As though it were their god-given right to be coddled like a bunch of fucking toddlers. And I just let them walk all over you and never said a fucking _word_."

Tony is speechless. He has rarely - if ever - seen Rhodey this angry.

"And they think so _highly_ of themselves but have no fucking clue what they are actually doing. They burn down an entire secret agency with no thought to all the lives and livelihoods attached to an organization like SHIELD. Or to the fact that SHIELD had its fingers in every fucking pie they could get their hands on, that their files included information on every single US intelligence agency. They didn't give a damn that the agents from _other_ , non-HYDRA-infested agencies crashed and burned with SHIELD."

Rhodey is snarling at this point and seems nowhere near done.

"Not to even mention the international political _shitstorm_ they caused, because those files sure as fuck didn't only contain information on agents in mafia cartels and terrorist cells. The US had just as many spies in foreign governments and we're still trying to get most of them back to our country. Not to even mention the secret military bases and covert ops in places the army cannot even officially mention. We'll likely never see those soldiers back on US soil." His best friend rages on.

"But I don't have to tell _you_ that! Because, you were right _there_ with all the other agencies scrambling to protect as many compromised agents and endangered civilians as you possibly could. _Despite_ being about twelve hours late to the party because you were still recovering from your surgery and no one had even given you a fucking heads-up."

Rhodey deflates.

"Those were _lives_. We lost _hundreds_ of lives, civilians and agents and military personnel, within fourty-eight hours. Just because they couldn’t be bothered to pick up a damn phone."

There is silence in the penthouse.

Because Tony does know. He is _haunted_ by it.

He knows the _exact_ number of confirmed deaths from the leak, civilian and non-civilian. He knows the number of captives in the hands of US allies who are currently negotiating for some pretty hefty concessions on their side - this is the first time in US history that other countries have had enough leverage on them to actually threaten _sanctions_ against them. But in most of those countries, prisoners are at least treated well, sometimes even much better than in the US of A herself.

Because he also knows the exact number people captured in countries which _despise_ the US. None of those are even pretending to want to negotiate. The most they have seen of the people lost in those countries are torture and execution videos sent to them from various terrorist groups all over the world.

And Tony cannot even imagine. He spent three months in a desert cave. But the Ten Rings had also _needed_ him for their agenda and what he endured had been mild torture at most, because they had no interest in permanently harming him before they got what they wanted. They _knew_ that an untrained city boy like him had no chance to hold out against torture. And they had been right. He had only managed to hold out for a few days before pretending to cave in to their demands. Tony cannot possibly imagine being in that same situation _without_ a way of relief.

The silence between them stretches, as Rhodey mourns the soldiers lost and Tony is haunted by the numbers he will never be able to forget.

The next part of Rhodey's rant is much more subdued, but the anger simmering beneath his words has only gained in intensity.

"And those fuckers just went home, patted themselves on the back for a job well-done and never thought about the repercussions again. They even seem to think themselves irreplaceable. Just, why? A shield-throwing, self-righteousness hypocrite who has not bothered to absorb any new information since waking in this century but has no problem lecturing others about their opinions, a turncoat spy who has no sense of loyalty, a military man with no critical thinking to speak of and a supposed god with all the common sense of a golden retriever _puppy_."

Now his platypus is mostly grumbling instead of outright snarling like before. Clearly, he has been dying to get all of this off his chest for quite some time now.

"And that is without even mentioning the fair-weather friend whose main source of pride is getting his own damn anger issues under control. Or the witch they now decided to take in. A witch who messes with people's minds and shows no real remorse or intent to make amends for her fuck-ups."

A pause.

"Actually, she fits in just _perfectly_ with them."

Tony can't help but snort at Rhodey's last grumble.

Although, he sobers again quickly.

"They took her because I left." Tony remarks as calmly as he can, trying to keep the hurt at being so very easily replaced out of his voice.

Rhodey immediately rounds on him. "No, they made you leave _so_ they could take her! They wanted her on the team despite knowing you and Banner are uncomfortable around her. They didn't even bother to _pretend_ they cared about anyone else's opinion."

Tony hesitates, but then says out loud what has been haunting him. "But I messed up. I _made_ Ultron. It's _my_ fault. They -"

He doesn't get any further, because Rhodey is already in his face, snarling, "Yes, you messed up. You made a mistake. And Ultron happened. Yes, to all of that. But you sure as fuck weren't the only one! Ultron is not all on _you_. And in contrast to everyone else involved in this mess, _you_ were trying to do something good, to protect our entire damn planet!"

Rhodey is looming over the couch but the anger in his glare seems to be directed everywhere _but_ at Tony.

"I mean _fuck_ , you have been talking about an alien army on the other side of that damn portal for _years_ and not a single one of us has given you the time of day. SHIELD could've started stretching out feelers, I could have talked to the army, hell, Pepper could have let you expand the SI defense tech department as I _know_ you asked her to. And we all sure as fuck could have listened. But we didn't. So, you came up with a different solution, as you _always_ do. Because you see a problem and then you fix it. That's what you _do_. The whole fucking _world_ knows, that's what you do!"

Tony is just staring at his best friend, who is returning his stare intently, clearly looking for something. Tony doesn't know what Rhodey is looking for but he definitely doesn’t like the devastation in his best friend’s eyes when he clearly doesn't find it. The next words are much softer.

"Tones. You tried to protect the _world_. You _always_ try to protect the world. No matter what other people like to accuse you of these days, even the weapons manufacturing was about _protection_ in your mind. Bigger-army diplomacy _works_. It’s a fact. As I and the entire damn US military will tell you. The revelation that the very weapons you were making to _protect_ our country were being used to kill our soldiers damn near killed you. Not only literally. But in your crisis of faith, you didn't give up, you created New York's first superhero. You became _Iron Man_. And you have been protecting as many people as you possibly can _as_ _Iron Man_ ever since."

Tony has no words. He opens his mouth. Closes it. Swallows. Starts again.

"I mean... I've been _trying_." His voice sounds much weaker than it should. God dammit, no one has ever said something like this to him. "But everything just always seems to turn into the exact _opposite_ of what I'm trying to do." And for once, he allows himself to show his insecurity, helplessly looking up at his best friend.

Who flops down on the sofa next to him and is now _smiling_ at him for some absurd reason.

"No, Tones, it really doesn't. We've had this conversation before, but the weapons manufacturing went to shit because of Obediah. Not your fault. But even with the under the table dealing, SI weapons still made the US the most formidable force on this planet. And when you took that away, because your conscience gave you no other choice, you promptly turned around and came up with a completely different kind of nuclear deterrent."

Rhodey leans back in his seat.

"You _know_ that none of the bigwigs will ever actually try to make you _stop_ being Iron Man. Sure, about every six months they like to have another meeting and bluster about getting at your tech. But their access to Iron Man and SI weapons and whatever else, is only ever _in addition_ to you being Iron Man _. No one_ is willing to mess with the best protection this country has had in decades. Not our enemies and not our own damn politicians. If only because the public would riot. And even the military has no interest in overreaching with you. Because there are other places to get decent weapons -"

Tony huffs. "Hey!"

" _Of course_ , not quite as spectacular as SI weapons." Rhodey rolls his eyes.

"That's better." Tony decrees magnanimously.

His platypus is looking wonderfully exasperated at this point. "But they know that Iron Man gives us an edge they couldn't ever have dreamed of. Within our own borders and outside of it." Rhodey looks at him. "So, while the SI weapons program might not have turned out as you intended, you did what you always do. You saw a problem, came up with a better solution and fixed it."

Well, this is different. Of course he knows all of this as _fact_ \- people liked to avoid messing with Iron Man's home country - but hearing someone state it out loud like this, is definitely new.

After a brief pause, Rhodey continues, "And I'm absolutely _certain_ , Ultron will turn out the same way. You might not quite have reached a solution yet, but you _will_. You will not only find a way to protect our planet from those damn space lizards but you will also figure out how to somehow turn this entire mess into something positive. I _know_ you will."

He is speaking with such conviction that Tony can't help but simply believe.

Then he realizes what his best friend had just said, his eyes widen. "You believe me about the aliens."

Rhodey closes his eyes, seeming almost defeated at this point. Tony hates seeing it.

"Yes, of course I believe you. I believed you the very first time you mentioned what you saw out there. The accusations that you either made it up or you hallucinated is ridiculous. Your brain doesn't _do_ hallucinations. Even when under the influence of highly illegal substances. We established that in college. I just never actually opened my fucking mouth to help you get that fact through everyone else's heads."

Tony stares at his best friend. And he finally, _finally_ feels some of the crushing weight lift from his shoulders.

There is a pause before his platypus seems to physically shake off the somber mood, "So. On that note, I have already scheduled a meeting with General Morey for the day after tomorrow to remind them of the risk of a potential alien invasion. The military should really get their asses into gear. We’ve been slacking."

A careful look in Tony's direction, "And until then, the two of us are going to dig through every _inch_ of your servers for every single damn line of code that remains of JARVIS. We're going to put our friend back together, even if it takes us the next twenty years to do so."

Tony breathes through the sudden ache in his chest.

"Okay." He says.

Rhodey clearly struggles briefly, before growling out, "And you will stop letting those half-brained, barely functional human beings with egos the size of the fucking Grand Canyon walk all over you. They don't want you? Fine, their loss. You already have people in your life, who would do anything to keep you in theirs. Stop acting like you owe those fuckers anything."

Tony grins through his suddenly watery eyes.

"Will do, platypus."

They spend the next ten minutes blinking up at the ceiling, pretending neither of them is crying.

It's just really dusty in his workshop. _Really_ , it _is_.

+++

It had been a fun talk.

In the two days since their mutual verbal catharsis, Tony has spent a lot of time re-evaluating the past several years.

While he might not have liked hearing most of it – and he doubts he would’ve even listened before Ultron went down - Rhodey's speech warms something in him. After so long of always, _always_ having to defend himself - be it about his political views, his standing with the media, his money or his willingness to banter with asshole Congress men - hearing his best friend put himself firmly and immovably on Tony's side feels like a breath of fresh air.

Suddenly, all the snide remarks and mistrustful glances and supposedly casual 'What are you working on in that workshop of yours, Tony? Mind if I stop by for a bit?' from what should be his _team_ , seem all the more infuriating.

The whole 'a team is built on trust and support' thing is apparently bullshit.

Although, of course none of this changes that Tony fucked up. No matter what he originally intended to do with Ultron, he knows better than most people that intentions count for _nothing_. Either you succeed or you fail, but no one will ever ask you what you were actually _trying_ to do.

He _knows_ that no matter how many other people were involved, no matter how many other factors might have played a role in this mess, without his attempt at a planet-wide defense system, Ultron wouldn't have happened. So, that's on him.

' _Partially! That's_ ** _partially_** _on you!_ ', his inner Rhodey grumbles.

His best friend’s rant had certainly driven a few points into Tony's skull.

The main one being, it's not all _Tony's_ fault.

And everyone else should really step up to the plate and take their share of the blame.

After two days of deliberation, Tony decides that it's about time that he acts accordingly. His platypus will be so proud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've only watched some of the MCU movies in their entirety and I'm still not entirely sure about the exact timeline. So, if there is something that goes directly against what happened in the movies please feel free to point it out to me and I'll fix it unless it's necessary for the story.


	2. Intervening legalities

Tony spends some time re-evaluating his position on the team.

Having his friend point out some hard truths to him had certainly given Tony a new perspective on things.

Most of which should have been pretty damn obvious from the start, but for some reason just _wasn't_.

Fury sure knew how to lastingly manipulate people. Dear god, Tony has clearly never gotten over the whole 'yes to Iron Man, no to Tony Stark.' thing.

Once Tony gets past that particular revelation, a lot of things start falling into place.

Iron Man is an Avenger, is a part of the team. But only ever as backup, as a heavy hitter.

And _god forbid_ Iron Man ever dares to stray from whatever the team - read: Cap - has decided to be the best course of action. Then he will be called anything from irresponsible to childish to irreverent to unreliable and anything in between. And Tony is just supposed to take it.

And Tony Stark himself is _not_ considered a member of the team. Just like that initial profile recommended.

He is their tech guy, their financer, their PR agent, their legal consult, their landlord. Does whatever the fuck they need, but only ever at their convenience. And he is still not to have an opinion of his own. Because whenever he does voice his opinion - which he does a lot, admittedly - the team immediately calls his morals into question, re-hashes his past, his love life, his business dealings and _unavoidably_ every single mistake he has ever made.

And it's been like that from the beginning.

The revelation that Tony has never been considered an equal member on the team almost knocks the breath out of him.

And he doesn't even think that they don't care about him at all. He is actually pretty sure that they would be devastated if something happened to him. But they do _not_ care enough about him to actually want to _do_ something about it. As the whole Mandarin debacle should have showed him.

 _Good god_ , this is just like a damn high school movie. And Tony is the nerd who has some sort of in with the popular kids but is treated like crap by the whole group because they know that he will always come back to them anyways.

 _How the fuck did he let himself be turned into a goddamn_ cliché _?_

No. Tony has never been a cliché and he refuses to be one.

So, his conclusion is simple.

He already retired from active Avenger duty after Ultron and the team doesn't seem to be missing him all that much. Or at all really.

His spot was immediately filled by Wanda, so it's not like the team is suffering from losing Iron Man as support during missions either.

So, the next logical step is for Tony to simply withdraw from the team entirely.

He is surprise to realize how little that thought actually bothers him.

Way back when, Tony had desperately wanted to be a part of Fury's team because it was supposed to make it _easier_ to protect _more_ people. And he had honestly loved the idea of a superhero team as close as family.

Well, that wish had clearly been disappointingly one-sided.

So, he let himself be ‘manipulated’ by SHIELD, let them ‘use’ him for tech and resources and fire power and intel and whatever else, because it was worth being able to protect more people in a team than he could have protected on his own.

But instead of making his life a little more manageable by having the team pick up some of the slack that came with superhero work, the Avengers actually made his life _harder_ by piling even more onto the already insurmountable pile of things to get done. And it didn't matter how much time he put into the tech and the PR and the legal stuff, the team always had something else to complain about.

Huh, he cannot even remember the last time one of them said thank you for anything.

It's really like dealing with a group of kids.

Rhodey had it right, calling them 'a bunch of coddled toddlers'.

However, Tony has never actually _needed_ the Avengers to protect people. He had been doing that as Iron Man long before SHIELD sunk their claws into him.

And now, there is so much tension within the team that them trying to work together is actually more of a hindrance than help.

So, Tony is going to take another step back. He is going to fully retire from the Avengers.

Of course, he still owns the brand and doesn’t intend to withdraw from that responsibility. But the Avengers can work in his absence.

Because their role as 'earth's mightiest heroes' hasn’t changed, with or without Tony on the team.

Just as he is still Iron Man, with or without the Avengers.

And come what may, he’s definitely still Tony motherfucking Stark.

So, almost a week after Rhodey’s not entirely sober, hour-long rant about hypocritical, self-entitled assholes, Tony has gotten all his ducks in a row and then promptly arranges a conference video call to talk to Pepper, Happy and Rhodey.

Only because it’s less tedious to have this conversation with all of them at once. It’s not because he’s been desperately missing them. It’s not.

+++

As usual, Pepper gets straight to the point after the initial greetings.

“What is this about, Tony?” She is looking unnecessarily suspicious on her screen.

Happy is watching him from over her shoulder and his Rhodey bear just raises a questioning eyebrow on his own screen.

Tony grins at them. “Well, my dear Pepper, I have come to a resolution recently. And this is me sharing.”

Her suspicious frown only deepens. “A resolution? And what _exactly_ does that entail, Tony?”

Even Happy is frowning now.

“Dear me, what’s with all the frowning?” Tony squints with exaggerated worry at the screens.

He knows he is stalling, worried about their reactions to his decision.

But.

He really should have more faith in his friends. These are the people who have stood by him through all of the shit he’s pulled over the years.

So, he takes a breath. “I’ve decided to retire from the Avengers.”

Happy’s frown gets even more severe. “I thought you had already done that, Tony.”

“Well, yes, my good man, indeed I have. But so far, it was only intended as temporary retirement from active missions. I am now planning to _completely_ retire from the team, to withdraw entirely. You know, give back my membership card, no more VIP lounge access, no more super secret handshake, et cetera, et cetera.”

There is silence.

Pepper is watching him intently, clearly trying to figure out how serious he is about this, not quite believing him yet. And Tony understands. Because she has been trying to get him to take a step back from the Avengers for quite some time now. He had always refused, completely unwilling to listen to any criticism about the team.

In hindsight, it was rather stupid to ignore her opinion so completely. But that's what relationships do to you. Clouded judgment all around.

Happy has none of her reservations, though. “That’s good, Tony. I think that’s really good!”

And Pepper seems to have found whatever she is looking for in his expression, because she is finally starting to look less frowny.

“I agree. But how exactly did this decision come about?” She asks.

A look over at Rhodey’s screen shows his honeybear leaning back in his chair, practically oozing satisfaction. Just like the proverbial cat.

Tony grumbles at him. “Watch it, kitty, too much canary in the morning makes for an upset stomach.”

“Oh, but the satisfaction.” Rhodey smirks back.

Tony snorts. “Want some cream with that, tabby?”

“I’m good, man. I’m good.”

Pepper is watching them. And clearly having figured out just where Tony’s change of heart originated, one of her rare honest smiles breaks over her face.

“Just how far removed are we talking here?” She asks. Her business mind is clearly already running numbers and scenarios.

Tony sobers, “I’m talking about complete retirement in any official Avenger capacity. No more direct involvement with the Avengers as a team member. No more missions, no more press conferences, no more personal gear updates, no more nothing. Nothing beyond my role as the official backer of the Avengers.”

A pause.

“Finally.” Pepper almost breathes out.

The relief in her voice is so very obvious, it surprises even Tony. He focuses on her and as always she understands his question without him actually having to ask.

And dear god, does she have things to say.

“Tony. That ‘team’ has never treated you as you _should_ be treated, as a _teammate_ should be treated. They don’t have any respect for you or your work and they definitely don’t respect your accomplishments in science, politics _or_ society.”

Here, Happy chimes in, grumbling, “Unless they want you to science up some new gear or to get them concessions with the City Council or to handle the press. Then it’s suddenly _obvious_ that Tony should be the one to take care of that.”

Huh, Rhodey clearly isn’t the only one with specific grievances against the team.

Alrighty then.

Pepper continues where Happy left off. “And they just love holding your mistakes over your head indefinitely but are unwilling to admit _any_ faults of their own. Especially Rogers. The man is _incapable_ of admitting even the slightest mistake without giving an excuse or blaming someone else. Preferably you. And his rendition of the ‘aw, shucks’ routine is transparent and tiring.”

Aw, Tony loves listening to Pepper rip people verbally apart without once resorting to a single swear word.

She also clearly isn’t done yet. “And if I ever have to hear Barton make another comment about how much more convenient life would be if they could have _only_ Iron Man on the team without having to deal with _you_ it will be too soon. And just thinking about Ms. Rushman makes me want to rip her pretty little deceitful head off.”

Happy is nodding emphatically behind her, a severe frown on his face.

And yes, his friends have never forgiven Natasha for the stunt she pulled way back when Tony was dying of palladium poisoning, Fury's orders or not.

Although, the infiltration of SI, the espionage and the hacking are only minor transgressions in their eyes. No, the part that they are still hung up on is that when Tony was dying Natasha came in and did her best to stress him out even further, winding him up and calmly watching him self-destruct as his life crumbled around him.

For a _character_ _profile_.

He knows that part of his friends' continued anger at Natasha is motivated by their own guilt at not realizing something was wrong with Tony in the first place. Something he honestly thinks is ridiculous, because he was actively hiding his deteriorating health.

But wow, Tony certainly hadn’t known they were still _this_ angry about Natashalie.

Happy grumbles. “They are supposed to be your _teammates_ and instead they treat you like a joke or a damn nuisance.”

Tony swallows. How disillusioning to hear it put like that.

Pepper is looking at him softly, "I'm really glad you are taking a step back from the team, Tony. I think it will be good for you."

So.

Apparently _all_ his friends have been worried about how Tony was being treated by the team and how little value the people he regularly entrusted his life to during missions put in him as a person.

_How in the world did it take him so long to catch up?_

 

* * *

 

Of course, it's not quite as simple as just giving back his membership card.

Because Tony does still _own_ the brand of the Avengers, they still live in one of his properties, they still rely on him. He is also still somewhat liable for them. At least to a certain degree, as Pepper points out.

But with Tony completely retired from the team, Pepper is happy to treat the Avengers like just another of the many, many brands, patents and organizations owned by SI or Tony Stark. Which had been impossible before, because with Tony as an active Avenger SI’s conflict of interest had just been too significant for her to risk directly involving the company.

Now, she puts SI’s legal department and PR division to work on the mess that is the Avengers. And Tony’s burden immediately lessens significantly.

While his personal lawyers and PR team had been doing their best to handle the Avengers, having SI's entire rather impressive department working on it apparently makes a huge difference for the number of times Tony has to _personally_ make an appearance.

Having Pepper directing everything also ensures that the entire team will be shouldering their share of the responsibilities.

And while Pepper clearly hasn’t been a fan of the team as a whole or any member in particular for quite some time, she is nothing if not professional. She is clearly willing to forget her personal dislike of the team that mistreated one of her friends and to give them a clean slate as just another organization handled by SI.

But then the Avengers really screw themselves when they refuse to show up for a press conference Pepper has the PR division arrange to do some damage control for Sokovia.

She even calls the Compound personally to inquire about their reasons for the refusal. Cap was apparently the one to pick up the phone. It must have been epic.

Tony and Rhodey only hear about the phone call afterwards, when Happy cheerfully relays everything over beer during their very recently re-instated game night.

The three of them are sprawled on the couches in Tony's penthouse at the Tower. They are not exactly sober anymore and none of them is paying any sort of attention to the game running on the TV in the background.

Tony and Rhodey are focused on Happy, hanging onto his every word like he is telling them the secrets of the universe.

"So, the Captain was completely surprised by Pepper's question about the press conference and he said something like 'just let Tony handle that' followed by something like 'we are too busy to dance for the press'. You should have seen Pepper's eye roll. It was epic." Happy is chortling.

Tony grins at the thought.

And Rhodey chuckles derisively, "Good job, Cap. That must have gone over well."

Happy continues. "Yeah, but then he made it worse by saying something like 'but I'm glad you called because we've been trying to reach Tony because Sam's wings need an update and please have Tony call us back'."

Tony laughs out loud. That's just about the worst thing they could have said to Pepper at that point. First refusing your obligations, then pushing them onto someone else and then promptly asking for _more_ from that very same source.

Not to even mention, attempting to treat _Pepper_ – who is one of the most powerful women in the entirety of the US – like their secretary.

"And then Pepper just did that perfectly polite smackdown thing. She said something like 'Mr. Stark is currently away on SI business and thus unavailable right now, but please feel free to lodge any requests with me at this time.'."

Tony gasps, "Oooh, she defaulted to her PA persona? She must have been really pissed. Learn to read a situation Cap, _really_."

Happy nods, chortling. "And then, and then, she was like 'I had assumed that after Mr. Stark's retirement from the team several weeks ago, you would have had sufficient time to arrange for someone to take over all of Mr. Stark's previous responsibilities.'."

Happy is barely able to speak at this point from laughing so hard. Rhodey and Tony are hanging onto his every word.

"And then she just finished by saying 'Please do get this sorted out as quickly as possible and contact the SI PR division as soon as you have a handle on your own team's organization. The same applies for the legal department and accounting.' and then she just said politely goodbye and then hung up before the Captain could even respond."

Rhodey's eyes have gone all squinty he's laughing so hard at Happy's vindictive account.

Tony is so sending Pepper another pair of expensive shoes. Or ten.

Because Pepper is _not_ a fan of unearned entitlement. Which definitely includes people demanding all the perks but accepting none of the drawbacks of having Tony – and thereby indirectly also SI - as a backer.

Ever since first becoming Tony's PA so long ago - and dear god, he is getting _old_ \- Pepper has had to deal with pretentious, self-entitled morons because they make up large parts of high society. That certainly didn't improve ever since she became CEO of SI.

And now with Pepper in charge, the Avengers will quickly learn that in _her_ world, if you want something you will have to work for it.

Tony cannot tell you just how stupid it is to piss off Pepper.

She has never suffered fools lightly.

 

* * *

 

Pepper arranges a meeting between SI's lawyers, Tony's personal lawyers, PR teams, accounting, Tony and herself.

The meeting pretty much begins with the lawyers unanimously agreeing that they need to come up with some sort of legal fallback system for the team.

Since SHIELD's fall, Tony has been housing the Avengers, financing the team, their missions and their living expenses, taking care of PR, organizing collaboration with local law enforcement before, during and after missions, helping re-build communities that were affected, settling any lawsuits filed against the team or individual members…

He pretty much does _everything_. Of course, with the help of his personal lawyers and PR agents, but he is still the one putting in the time.

And after seeing it laid out like this Tony has to agree, this really isn’t sustainable.

After looking over the original SHIELD contracts for the team and how those were integrated into the SI legal framework, the lawyers are very clear on the fact that they are currently working in a legal grey area. Very dark grey.

Because with Tony as the only financial backer and the Avengers running around the world however they please, they just barely still qualify as some sort of private security group.

And they are only one or two legal steps away from vigilantism.

Which is apparently a legal can of worms they want to stay as far away from as they possibly can.

The only reason why they haven't _already_ dropped into that category, is the fact that Tony diligently contacts and collaborates with international, federal and local law enforcement for every single Avengers mission.

So, the lawyers urgently recommend talking to the US government or one of its agencies about taking the Avengers on as some sort of independent subdivision.

Once the lawyers explain what that would  entail, it actually sounds like a rather neat solution.

It would allow Tony to retain his position as the Avengers' main backer - thereby keeping them independent - but their actions would be covered by the government's laws and regulations for its other agencies and law enforcement.

Essentially, it would provide quite a bit more legal protection for the Avengers as well as independent oversight.

And silently, Tony can only think how much it would have helped if there had been some sort of committee overseeing the Avengers who he could have addressed about his concerns regarding a possible alien invasion. If he had, Ultron might not have happened at all.

Because, no matter how often his friends tell him that Ultron wasn’t entirely his fault, Tony simply doesn’t trust his judgment as he did before.

If Ultron taught him one thing, it's the fact that fear is a truly powerful motivator which is entirely unaffected by rational thinking.

Lesson learned.

It also makes quite a bit of sense, for the Avengers to be associated with the US government if they want to sustainably work to protect American citizens.

So, Tony gives the lawyers the go-ahead to come up with a proposal that would grant the team protection and oversight by the US government in a way that would still keep them out from under any grimy thumbs of politicians dreaming of having their very own superhero team at their disposal.

Legal quickly figures out a workable solution - SI doesn't employ the best lawyers their country has to offer for nothing - and Tony goes to present their proposal to the appropriate committee in Washington DC.

However, once there, the bigwigs actually try to give him the run-around.

Which is unexpected and makes Tony endlessly suspicious.

Because politicians _always_ want to talk to him. If only for the picture in the media of shaking Iron Man's hand.

They are clearly trying to keep him in the dark about something.

But well, he is Tony Stark. Keeping him out of things is really rather impossible.

And this is how he first learns about the Sokovia Accords.

Legislation for superhumans.

So much for Tony's plans of getting some distance from the Avengers by moving back to the west coast for a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your comments and kudos! You are amazing!  
> And it really helps a lot to have the details of the MCU time line pointed out to me :)


	3. Seeking intervention

His meeting in DC had actually gone off without a hitch and the committee he had spoken to had clearly been very much intrigued by the proposal Tony's lawyers had drawn up.

They had agreed to bring it up with all the relevant people and Tony was expected back next week for another meeting.

But the committee's initial reaction to the proposal also made it very obvious that they had in fact been expecting an entirely different topic of conversation. However, they didn't bring anything else up.

So suspicious.

As soon as he gets out of the meeting, Tony goes digging with FRIDAYS help - his baby girl is still new at this and watching him slip past the government's various firewalls will be a wonderful lesson in hacking for her.

What he finds surprises him.

The Sokovia Accords. Which turn out to be an absurdly long document attempting to establish legislation for superhumans.

They are also clearly still in the early stages. And Tony certainly isn't supposed to have gotten his hands on a copy at all.

All the documents Tony can find are an utter mess of contradicting proposals and amendments to the few original regulations apparently agreed upon by all involved.

Then he realizes that these Accords are actually the US version of a UN document and he promptly goes digging through international servers.

Really, people should just know at this point that firewalls are no hindrance to him. They are entertaining at best. He effortlessly slips past all of them, FRIDAY his silent shadow.

Only to unearth even _more_ pages of endless legal jargon, which turn out to be an even _bigger_ mess of contradicting legislation. Although, it's no wonder, considering that there are apparently 56 countries with wildly differing political and economical views currently working on the Accords.

And notably, these 56 countries include not only the US, but also China, Russia and pretty much all of the EU.

Well, shit.

Almost 20 additional countries have already given support and another 30 tacitly approving but holding back their support until the documents are finished.

Meaning, about 100 countries are _already_ supporting this, despite its early stage. Yeah, these Accords are definitely going to happen.

Although, a lot of the proposed legislation doesn't even seem so bad, like granting superhumans the protection of the Geneva convention - so no experimentation under the UN's watch - and even legal fallbacks for their superheroing brethren.

But there are also some unacceptable proposals in this as well, like the relatively vague definition of humane treatment once a superhuman is found guilty of a crime and _definitely_ the Superhuman Registration Act.

That particular bill cannot be allowed to be implemented. Ever.

A lot of superheroes rely on their secret identity in order to be able to protect people. There are several just in New York that have started popping up recently, like Spiderman and Daredevil or all the X-Men. They all want their identities to be secret.

And that is only the people who are running around in colorful costumes. Tony doesn't even have a realistic estimate of how many enhanced people might be running around in their country alone, who might have no interest whatsoever in even using their powers. But with the Registration Act would be required to do so by law.

And don't even get him started on that innocuous little footnote about registering biometric data.

Tony knows very well that by definition, biometric data includes fingerprints, retinal scans and also DNA samples.

And yeah, no.

The damage the crazies of the world could do with DNA samples from the Hulk, Captain America or _god forbid_ Thor is unthinkable.

And despite all the different countries and countless people working on these Accords, as far as Tony can tell a grand total of two somewhat enhanced individuals seem to be involved. One from Japan and one from _Iceland_ of all places.

That means there is legislation being made, specifically tailored to superhumans but without them actually being represented in a relevant manner.

Tony desperately needs to get in front of this. And fast.

So, he calls his legal team.

He is greeted by Lewis Trenton from his New York office and Lisa Murrow from her DC firm on their individual screens.

"Stark. I hope the proposal went over well with the committee?" Murrow greets him.

"Oh yes. By the end of it the whole group was rubbing their grimy little paws. Well, midterms are coming up and they seemed to simply swoon at the thought of being able to sell themselves as the ones to bring the Avengers under the government's thumb."

Trenton smirks condescendingly. "Oh, I can imagine. The politicians certainly won't care that the proposal doesn't give them any actual power over the Avengers as long as it looks good to the voters."

Tony smirks back.

Trenton and Murrow are his two top lawyers and they are involved in pretty much anything Tony touches. Tony trusts them implicitly.

He has been working with them for literally decades now. Both are just a few years older than him and Tony had plucked Trenton straight out of law school after randomly wandering into a courthouse and witnessing the man verbally flay his opponent with just a few well-placed words.

Tony had promptly offered him a job.

And Trenton had immediately accepted, his eyes literally sparkling at the thought of dealing with Tony's problems, at facing actual opponents instead of some small fries.

Entertainingly enough, Murrow had joined his legal team somewhat unconventionally, when she had stormed Tony's office, spouting verbal abuse for taking her rival away.

Apparently, she and Trenton had had an inconsolable rivalry going ever since their first day of law school. But with Trenton now handling one of the most prolific people in the country, she had lost any chance of meeting him in a court room.

She had been pissed, Trenton had been smug and Tony had been endlessly amused.

He had promptly offered her a job as well.

Which she imperiously accepted before flouncing out of his office with a derisive snort at Trenton's suddenly rather sour looking face.

And despite having worked on the same team for several decades now, their rivalry never tapered off. The two lawyers find nothing as entertaining as outdoing each other. While working on the same side and even despite having named each other godparent of their respective children.

Don't ask Tony how that worked.

But because his two main lawyers love poking holes into each other's arguments, Tony has about the most airtight contracts for _anything_ on the planet.

Which brings him back to the topic at hand.

Tony sobers and it has his two favorite sharks immediately hone in on him. They really do know him well.

"While in DC, I also stumbled over another legal document pertaining to superhumans in general and thus the Avengers in particular."

"Oh?" Murrow is frowning, clearly frustrated at not being aware of something like that.

"It's based on an UN document called the 'Sokovia Accords'. As far as I can tell it is still in the early stages, but its backers seem to be aiming for a set of legislation to specifically govern superhumans with internationally binding regulations in place."

Now, both his lawyers are frowning, confirming Tony's thoughts that they hadn't heard of this before. Which - considering their extensive network due to Tony's resources - means that these Accords are being kept incredibly quiet.

And that sort of secrecy rarely means anything good.

"Whoever came up with this originally seems to have been aiming for simple governing of enhanced individuals. But of course at this point several not so well-intentioned amendments have made their way onto the table."

"Hm, I have to admit this is news to me." Trenton is squinting at him with almost humorous suspicion.

Tony smiles innocently. "Well, I only stumbled across the document by complete coincidence. Although, when I looked for the official version, I simply couldn't find it!"

Murrow smirks. "How strange."

His lawyers don't even have to ask whether he had obtained these documents legally. They know him better than that.

They love their rather unorthodox access to information due to Tony's resources and thus being so rarely caught unaware in court.

The three of them had made a fearsome team right from the start, even when they had still been fresh-faced and rather naive. Two lawyers barely out of law school and a recently crowned owner of a Fortune 500 company.

But all three of them had learned quickly and now a lot of Tony's exclusive success and airtight patents are thanks to his two personal lawyers.

Although, these days Trenton and Murrow regularly complain about there being so few people actually willing to tangle with them in the courtroom anymore.

Which is complete bullshit. Tony knows they love their reputation.

Tony turns serious again. "Thing is, this is going to be legislation exclusively tailored to superhumans. But as far as I could tell there seems to be just two superhumans to be remotely involved in their creation."

Murrow nods. "This has the potential to get ugly."

Tony sighs, already feeling tired.

Trenton gives a decisive nod. "Please send us any information you have on this and we will get back to you within the week with a comprehensive summary."

 

* * *

 

Tony can't sleep.

His brain just won't let go of the Accords and he keeps running through various scenarios of how _spectacularly_ wrong this situation could end up going.

Because there was no way the superhumans of this world would just nod and go along with an entirely new set of legislation, if they were simply confronted with a it without any way to voice their complaints.

Of course, some of them would sign, probably after being promised to be able to argue for amendments to the Accords.

But others would refuse.

And depending on what the UN was going to finally put in those Accords that could mean war. War _with_ and possibly _between_ superhumans.

The destruction that would be wrought all over the world by superhumans fighting for their rights is unthinkable.

And Tony's stomach churns with guilt.

Because the very name of the Accords makes it very clear that the politicians are going to use Tony's personal fuck up of Ultron and the subsequent destruction of Sokovia as their soap box.

_Fuck._

Tony twists around again.

He had fucked up with Ultron, yes, and the investigation into whether he would actually be held responsible for it was still running and Tony would yield to the ruling. But to make the entirety of the superhuman community suffer for his mistakes?!

He even generally agrees with the idea of the Accords. Oversight and accountability on all sides.

But it all depends on its implementation.

So far, Tony might be the only person in the entirety of the US who will be affected by the Accords and is aware of them.

That desperately needs to change.

Immediately.

Tony sits up. Now, there's a thought.

Why not seek out all the potentially affected parties and prepare them, possibly even get their input on the Accords beforehand?

Right now, superhumans are pretty spread out, preferring to stay out of each other's way, so they are rather easy pickings for anyone who dares to try challenging them.

But what if Tony could preemptively establish a line of communication, maybe even an agreement between the various groups of superheroes?

He could seek them out individually or in their various groups, let them know about there being some sort of legislation in the works and then keep them informed as much as possible.

They could each figure out which particular parts of the Accords they find agreeable, which ones should be amended and which ones should be excluded entirely. If they manage a civil line of communication, they might even be able to work out some sort of veto deal between them, that if a certain number of enhanced vetoed a particular part of the Accords, the rest of them would stand with them.

If they really managed a united front on this, they had an actual chance to affect the Accords, maybe even turn some of it in their favor.

Tony suddenly grins.

That might actually work.

He scrambles out of bed.

"Friday, my girl, you awake?"

"Yes, boss."

"Would you go search through New York's video data bases and look for any superhero activity over the past few months? Include social media uploads and city cams."

"On it, boss."

He is going to start with any out and proud supers in his own city and then work his way along the coast and across the country.

Tony is planning, his mind already running in hundred directions at once.

He pauses.

Okay. Stop. He promised his friends, no more lone ranger shit from him.

So, he needs feedback.

Looking at the clock it was 3am in the morning, so his platypus is probably still asleep. How inconvenient.

Tony will have to wait at least for another 3 hours before calling him.

But he can help FRIDAY search the databases until then.

He finally has a plan how to clean up this particular mess and his relief is endless.

 

* * *

 

"Hello, Mr. Murdock.” Tony greets as he takes a look around the small office.

All he gets is a raised eyebrow over tinted glasses.

“I'm Tony Stark."

The kid promptly chokes on his coffee.

Tony grins. "I have something I would like to discuss with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted Tony to have some sort of reliable help for legal matters (because that will be a big part of this fic) and it would get old very quick to always have to refer to them as 'his lawyers', so at least two of them get names. Still, Trenton and Murrow aren't going to play significant roles beyond providing legal support (at least I don't think they will? Still not really sure of where this fic will go ^^;).  
> Also, I have no idea where Spider-Man and Daredevil fit into the MCU timeline exactly, but I need them to be their superheroing selves at this point already, so I'm just pretending it's fact XD  
> And yes, I decided that this is a superhero equal opportunity fic, no matter which comic 'verse they come from. Doesn't mean they _will_ appear but they at least they all exist in this world.


	4. Intervention chances

Tony sighs in exhaustion, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes as the car slowly crawls through New York City traffic.

He is just returning from the airport after another meeting in DC.

The committee had only deliberated for two days, before the President had personally called Tony to tell him that they would very much like to take the Avengers on as a subdivision of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The President's immediate interest is no surprise, because with this sort of press, Ellis' re-election is virtually guaranteed.

Although, Tony can't complain, because being on the President's good side certainly never hurts.

It will be good for SI, Tony _and_ the Avengers to be seen directly working with the US government. The people will be thrilled. If only because of all the new conspiracy theories about deep state agendas once this becomes public.

Tony wants to snort just thinking about the media. They are currently lamenting the fact that the Avengers are _not_ working with the US government, but the very same media will turn around at the first chance to crucify them _for_ collaborating with the US government.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. That's American tabloid media for you.

Tony learned that little fact very early in life.

But the main point is, that the Avengers will be better legally covered as soon as they close this deal. They'll be falling under one of the big five intelligence agencies of the US government.

Not to mention that Tony himself had collected quite a bit of political favor with this move.

Tony has been passing on all relevant information about the development of this situation to Pepper, who has SI legal pass everything on to the Avengers.

Unsurprisingly, so far none of the team has bothered to actually respond beyond some 'Okay, thanks for the update.' emails.

But as this new arrangement won't actually affect the team itself much - what with the additional legal protection only reducing the work load that Tony had been handling anyways - he really isn't surprised at their disinterest.

Tony knows that if they did have a problem with this they would already be making their dissatisfaction known.

Like spoiled teenagers, the whole lot of them.

Still, Tony was still quite happy about how this had turned out.

The deal they have been working on is starting to look quite promising.

Tony will remain the Avengers' backer - he still utterly believes in the _idea_ of the Avengers and he will not just hand them over to the government in their entirety - but the DIA will lend independent oversight, additional intelligence and direct lines of communication with other agencies.

And the US government is quite happy not having to fund the Avengers - their rather destructive approach to peace keeping has seen to that - but from now on they will be afforded the same rights and protections as other law enforcement agencies in exchange for being able to claim an affiliation with their rather prolific team.

If Tony is honest, things seem to truly be going in his favor recently.

Ambushing Matt Murdock at his office had also worked out quite well.

The lawyer had been almost impressively prickly in the beginning. Which was more than understandable considering what Tony's presence signified in regards to his secrets.

However, Tony hadn't so much as mentioned the man’s nighttime hobby and instead gotten to his actual reasons for being there. Namely, the Accords.

At once, he had had the lawyer’s full attention.

Once realizing that Tony wasn't here to actually discuss anything pertaining his secret activities and that he was actually there with a legitimate concern, Murdock had started almost aggressively questioning Tony about the Accords.

The possible catastrophic ramifications of such a document had clearly not been lost on the lawyer.

By the end of it, Murdock still hadn't really warmed up to Tony but the obvious suspicion at least had disappeared.

Although, Tony had only left the man with Trenton's summary.

Giving a man he had never met before leverage over him by revealing that he had illegally hacked not only into several branches of the US government but also the UN as well as numerous other countries' supposedly secure servers...

Well, Tony is many things, but naively trusting definitely isn't one of them, superhero brethren or not.

Murdock had asked for some time to think over Tony's official offer to become his lawyer for the Accords issue, which Tony had no problem granting him.

If the man decides to take him up on the offer, they can have him sign the usual NDAs and then Tony can let the lawyer in on the mess of documents he _actually_ has on the Accords.

It remains to be seen whether Tony would actually manage to get himself a lawyer who was uniquely suited to work on the Accords. But either way Tony had still opened a line of communication with another of NYC's enhanced which was the far more pressing issue to him.

Tony had discussed his idea with Rhodey before actually going to see Murdock.

His honeybear had agreed that it was a good idea to seek out the various superhumans skulking through their city at night in order to build _some_ sort of trust between them.

Even if these Accords never made it off the drawing board and to an actual vote, it would still be good to have some way of getting into contact with the various enhanced people.

You never know what sort of apocalyptic catastrophe might find them next and it might be a good idea to be able to call for help.

Because, apparently, there are aliens! Didn't you know?

And there are still so many more superhumans out there, who Tony hasn't even attempted to approach yet.

The list just seems to keep getting longer and longer.

Tony sighs again.

 

* * *

 

"Dr. Stark, thank you for joining us today."

Tony nods at the Latvian delegate, before greeting the room at large. "Thank you for having me."

Today, Tony is finally going to give his statement regarding his involvement in the Ultron affair to the UN board of inquiry.

And for once, Tony doesn't feel like keeping up his purposely vexing persona, he usually prefers to present.

This is far too serious. Not only because of the topic of conversation but also because Tony cannot afford to piss off the entirety of the UN. Especially, knowing what they are currently putting together in regards to superhumans in general.

He needs today to go well, needs to have some sort of rapport with these people.

And he will take whatever punishment they will come up with for his involvement in the Ultron mess if it means staying on their good side and thus maybe getting a foot in the door for the unavoidable arguments over the Accords.

Although, this is already the second time he has to step in front of a committee and explain every detail of what happened ever since finding the damn scepter in the HYDRA base.

The first board of inquiry had been a US committee, who had been mainly interested in absolving all American citizens of liability. Because most of the damage had been done in other countries, so why would the American voter care. And why piss off your voters by making their heroes pay for damages that had been done in some podunk country on the other side of the planet.

But the UN had quickly made their dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency very clear. Considering that most of the damage during their fight against Ultron had been done on non-US soil, the UN had had every right to demand a transparent and international investigation.

Tony actually welcomes the chance to explain what happened to the rest of the world. Because he _doesn’t_ want the world to think that the Avengers were just willy-nilly traipsing through their countries, leaving death and destruction in their wake for no particular reason.

Tony focuses back on the board when the Latvian delegate continues.

"Thank you for making yourself available for this inquiry. Several independent investigations into the happenings before and after the appearance of the entity Ultron have already been completed and we also have several written statements from the involved parties. However, we would like to hear your assessment of the situation not only as one of the main involved party but also in the capacity of an expert in artificial intelligence."

Tony nods. He likes the neutral terminology the delegate is using. No leading questions, no subtle blame. How refreshing.

The inquiry board seems to be taking this issue very seriously indeed.

"Could you confirm for the record that the entity Ultron originated as a program that you designed?"

"Yes, ULTRON was designed as a program that would facilitate a planet-wide warning and defense system in case of another alien invasion or anything at a similar scale."

He can only hope that the board will remain this amicable once they get to the controversial questions.

Thankfully, they seem to be a rather capable bunch, considering that none of them asks him why he thought such a thing necessary. Really, is he sick of being asked how he got the absurd idea that there might be aliens out there who could plan to invade their planet. Like the Chitauri never even happened.

"This board is well aware of your extensive experience with artificial intelligence and as unusual as it is, we would like to hear your own assessment of what the ULTRON program was intended to entail and what went wrong with its implementation in your expert opinion."

Tony takes a silent deep breath to center himself. He knew that this inquiry would make it impossible to avoid ripping open his wounds. Still, silently he had _hoped_.

But this is also a chance. A chance to let the entire world know, just what happened to make them rip apart several cities all across the world within a few days. A chance to explain, to ask for forgiveness and to let the world judge them.

He focuses back on the group sitting opposite him.

Here goes nothing.

 

* * *

 

Tony obsessively follows another broken trail of code, gathering whatever he can salvage.

Rhodey is sleeping on the couch in his workshop. His platypus had fallen asleep some time ago, knocked out from his long flight, but not before helping him dig through his servers for several hours.

FRIDAY is doing her best to keep up with Tony's obsessive search, transferring every single line of JARVIS' scattered coding he highlights for her.

His baby girl has been somewhat subdued ever since asking about JARVIS' relevance and Tony explaining to her, that he would have been like her big brother. A brother to explain things to her, to show her how to work her protocols, to teach her. To keep her company.

She had been entirely silent for about an hour before apparently coming to some sort of conclusion and ever since then she had been helping him as much as she can, diligently copying every fragment of code that Tony highlights for her into a new folder as well as digging through Tony's servers herself, pulling up everything that contains even the tiniest fragments of that beautiful orange code.

And Tony is so damn proud of his baby girl. She is learning by leaps and bounds.

He doesn't know whether to be elated at how much of JARVIS there is still to be found scattered throughout his servers or to be devastated at how broken the coding is. He isn't sure whether he will be able to put his JARVIS back together at all.

But when Rhodey had returned from his various meetings with the upper echelons of the military, his best friend had brought mountains of take out to keep them going, sat at one of the terminals and simply said.

"Alright. Where do we start?"

And Tony is just so damn grateful.

He is well aware that he could have started digging through his servers before, could have gotten started without Rhodey, but he simply didn't have the _strength_ to do so on his own.

In case it turned out that nothing substantial remained of JARVIS. Because as long as he didn't _check_ , he could pretend JARVIS was salvageable. And he couldn't have handled seeing that he maybe wasn't.

So, with Rhodey looking over his shoulder, the first thing he did was check on the various backups JARVIS had been making of certain file groups, protocols, data, conclusions, lists.

All of them, with his very own brand of coding. Which amounts to little pieces of JARVIS' personality, tiny fragments of himself. Just small pieces, sometimes barely there slivers. But it is so much more than Tony had let himself hope for.

And that is what is going to make it possible for Tony to put _his_ JARVIS back together.

Tony had been terrified of finding that Ultron had ripped through those as well.

But they're still intact.

And Tony laughed for a solid ten minutes with tears on his cheeks at finding the files untouched by Ultron's rampage.

Rhodey had smiled at him with watery eyes.

Then they had started their obsessive search through Tony's servers.

And now that he has started, he can't stop.

He just keeps digging and searching and fixing the simpler breaks in the beautiful orange code before highlighting it for FRIDAY to transfer.

And as the number of files in that folder grows, so does his hope that he might somehow, _at some point_ be able to put JARVIS' essence back together.

He knows, no matter what he does, it will never be an exact copy of his JARVIS at the moment of his destruction, but he doesn't _care_ that JARVIS might not remember everything, or that he might develop some new quirks. No, what he cares about is JARVIS' essence. The thing that made JARVIS _JARVIS_. His personality and his wit and his unending support and his sarcasm and unshakable loyalty.

His friendship.

Tony has a chance now and he knows he won't be getting much sleep until he has checked everything, not until he has an idea of how to gather enough of JARVIS to put him back together.

And he has so many other things he needs to take care of. So many other, _important_ things to sort out.

But everything else just simply pales in comparison.

Tony blinks back tears again as he feverishly follows another long long line of occasionally broken code into the depth of his servers.

He _knows_ he has a chance now.

And that's all he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oookay. That's apparently quite the can of worms I opened just by _mentioning_ DC heroes. I'm not even planning to have any non-Marvel heroes play much of a role in this (although I kind of adore Barry Allen and he would make such a wonderful addition to Tony's gaggle of mini-geniuses). I just liked the idea of giving the various superhero groups a chance to at least acknowledge each other's existence and to stand together if need be.  
>  Still, I have no plans to have Superman suddenly move into Tony's tower or something.  
> But let me know if making this a superhero equal opportunity fic actually bothers you and then I can just kick everything non-Marvel. I don't really have much of a preference either way...  
> So, let me know what you think (though fair warning, this story is kinda doing what it wants, so I can't promise anything XD)  
>   
> And now, I have a question for those of you who seem to know the MCU pretty well: Do the Avengers ever actually discuss their visions and the fact that Wanda was the one to mess with their heads? If there is a scene about this, I seem to have missed it entirely... Don't know whether I'll stick with canon on this anyways, but I would love some help with this! Thanks!  
>   
> Anyways, thanks for all your comments and kudos! You guys are awesome!


	5. Judging interventions

_The Latvian delegate looks serious as she asks, "Can you tell us what exactly went wrong with the implementation of the Ultron program in your expert opinion? We already have your written statement but could you try to explain it in layman's terms?"_

_Explaining artificial intelligence - a field that Tony solely dominates - to politicians, when he has been leaving even his colleagues in the dust for decades..._

_What fun._

_But it’s not like Tony can respond by simply telling the UN that they probably have neither the capacity nor the education to understand him, even if he were to seriously try to explain artificial intelligence to them. People get huffy about these kind of things, complaining about supposedly being called stupid._

_Which Tony has never understood. It's not like he simply_ knows _everything. He has to learn stuff, the same way everyone else does. He might be a little quicker than most people at picking up new information, but there are still countless topics, entire_ fields _where he is just as clueless as most anyone else. He has never had any problems with admitting to a lack of knowledge and calling in some experts to help._

_And if he really wants to get into a new field, he simply sits down and educates himself._

_But other people generally don't. They demand that everything be explained at their level of limited understanding and then blame_ Tony _if they don't comprehend his explanation._

_He suppresses a sigh. Sometimes people are exhausting._

_But still, this is the UN. So, Tony tries to think of a good way to explain in layman's terms but without insulting anyone by talking down to them. He_ sucks _at that. It's the reason why even other geniuses don't really get along with him. Because he either assumes they are at his level of understanding - which people mostly aren’t – or he assumes he has to explain everything. Either way he is accused of showing off or talking down to people. He_ sucks _at explaining things to people._

_Well, best just put that on the delegates' own shoulders instead of his._

_"What level of familiarity with computer programming am I to assume from this board?" Tony asks straightforward._

_The Venezuelan delegate actually looks somewhat offended by the question but the Australian delegate immediately jumps in by saying, "While some of us may be rather well-versed on the topic, others certainly aren't. For simplicity's sake it might be best to simply assume that our knowledge ends at how to navigate a Windows OS."_

_Windows. Dear god._

_Tony almost wants to wrinkle his nose in disgust._

_But still, he nods at the delegate. At least now, no one can be offended if he talks to them in really small words. Still, it might be best to mix some technical terms into it to make them feel smart. Pepper has been telling him to do that for years. But he has never considered it necessary when talking to SI’s board of directors. They were making money off of his inventions. If they still haven't felt the need to pick up a book and read up on the basics of engineering, they could deal with feeling stupid._

_This, however, is a very different situation._

_"So, first let me point out that there were actually several issues regarding the activation of the Ultron program. Mainly, its auto-integration, its auto-implementation as well as its immediate sophistication."_

_He looks around. No questions yet._

_Tony continues, "Firstly, the program that Dr. Banner and I had been designing wasn't anywhere near completion. We hadn't yet written all parts necessary for a complete program and not even integrated the sub-protocols we_ did _have."_

_He can practically see the question marks hovering over their heads._

_"A program is generally written as numerous sub-protocols, all addressing specific tasks. For the program's activation, these sub-protocols are then integrated into a single comprehensive file." Still no comprehension on their faces._

_"Hm. Imagine taking the paragraphs from a single book, separately printing them on single sheets of paper and then shuffling the pages randomly. Even though all the information is there, the plotline would be indistinguishable. A non-integrated program is similar. The complete information might be available in single separate files but is has not yet been put together comprehensively."_

_Finally, some delegates are nodding._

_Phew, Tony had heard one of his MIT professors use that particular analogy before. It's a ridiculous explanation in his opinion but at least it seems to work._

_He continues. "So, from a programmer's view, the activation of the program shouldn't have been possible at all at that point. Not only was it missing several key protocols but it also hadn't yet been integrated."_

_Everyone is nodding wisely now as though that conclusion was obvious and Tony hadn't just had to explain even the most basic principle of programming to them. Hnpf._

_"Which brings me to the second problem, the auto-implementation. Until its activation, a program is simply a long line of symbols, letters and numbers. It does not actually do anything until it is prompted to activate. Only then can a program start processing according to its code. A program_ cannot _self-activate. But neither Dr. Banner nor I gave the command for its activation."_

_The Kenyan delegate frowns. "How do you explain its activation then?"_

_The question isn't asked unkindly, but Tony still wants to frown because he doesn't actually have an answer. This particular question is still keeping up at night, wondering just what happened between leaving for the party with JARVIS overseeing everything and coming back to a destroyed workshop with JARVIS gone._

_He breathes in silently. "Even now, I don't have a reliable explanation for the auto-integration_ or _the auto-implementation. My best guess would be the involvement of an outside force."_

_"An 'outside force'?" The Venezuelan delegate asks skeptically._

_Tony really doesn't like being interrupted, but he does his best to remain amicable._

_"While my servers are quite possibly the most secure servers on earth," - definitely, they_ definitely _are - "I cannot entirely exclude the possibility of having been hacked. It is highly unlikely because even if someone succeeded in hacking my systems, they would never have been able to do so without at least alerting me. But I cannot find a single trace of an outside attack even now. Something any accomplished hacker will tell you is simply impossible."_

_Tony is only giving this option for completeness’ sake. He knows that it is bullshit. No one hacked him._

_Not only because there is no one actually_ capable _of hacking into his systems but also because his warning systems would have immediately tipped him off and JARVIS would have kicked anyone's ass. Not to even mention that the hacking community had learned_ years _ago that Tony's personal servers were off limits. No one was stupid enough to even_ try _anymore because anyone who did would find their life in ruins immediately afterwards._

_But Tony wants to give the delegates all the options and information so they can make up their minds themselves. He doesn't want to give the impression of keeping information from them. And he knows that the UN has numerous outside experts to call in who would all have told them about this anyways._

_"The second and more likely explanation is that the scepter itself might have somehow interfaced with my servers and subsequently facilitated the integration and activation of the Ultron program. Dr. Banner and I took every precaution to isolate the scepter, so it should not have been possible. But it is alien technology, so we might have overlooked something. To me this seems to be the only remotely plausible explanation."_

_Several of the delegates are frowning, but no one asks him to elaborate. Tony_ knows _that this is the least convincing part of his account. And because Bruce is missing, he also has no way to prove he's telling the truth._

_He wants to sigh. Good god, would he love some support from his former teammates. Or from anyone, really._

_But there is no one who is able_ and _willing to help._

Well, that’s what you get for surrounding yourself with a team of hypocrites, backstabbers and cowards _, he can practically hear his inner Rhodey grumble._

_Tony sighs silently._

_He has no way of anticipating just which way the board’s decision will go. He knows they have been gathering statements from everyone involved – at least from anyone who bothered to respond to their summons – and from countless experts on various fields._

_When he initially sat down to write his initial statement about his involvement in the Ultron affair, Tony had decided to tell as much of the unvarnished truth as he could._

_And for once, that didn’t only include being straightforward about any of his own screw-ups - he has been doing that for years now, ever since his declaration of 'Truth is, I am Iron Man'._

_No, this time he decided to be just as honest about everyone else’s failures as well. For the first time since the conception of the Avengers, Tony isn't going to take the fall for everyone. Rhodey quite literally forbid him from doing so._

_And there really is enough blame to go around that everyone can deal with their own share. As his platypus pointed out to him, there really is no reason for Tony to shoulder_ everything _._

_So, he is going to tell the truth. No whitewashing, no glossing over facts, no stretching the truth._

_And then Tony will deal with whatever comes of it._

_If the UN decides to crucify him for his role in this mess then so be it. And if they decide to exonerate him then his conscience won’t kill him for cheating his way out of this mess._

_But while he is well aware of his personal failures in this - and he is absolutely willing to pay for his mistakes - everyone else will just have to deal with their own share of the blame._

_So, Tony takes another breath and continues his explanation about everything that went wrong before Ultron ever even attained his robot body._

_"Which brings me to the third problem, the immediate sophistication. The program we wrote should have required a certain learning phase before reaching the level of knowledge exhibited by Ultron immediately upon its activation."_

_Again, he is interrupted by the Venezuelan delegate._

_"But aren't you known for your advanced AIs, Dr. Stark? You are the leading expert in the design of AIs, are you not?" The question is asked with an incredible level of condescension._

_Ah, one of those. People who like to make Tony's success sound like an insult somehow. He just suppresses his smirk._

_Instead he smiles winningly. "Yes, indeed I am. Thank you for pointing that out."_

_Tony immediately sobers again, stating forcefully. "So, as the leading expert of this field, let me tell you that no matter how good its design an AI is not just activated as a fully educated program. I created my first AI more than 30 years ago and to this day Dum-E still hasn't figured out the difference between milk and motor oil."_

_The delegates are staring at him somewhat incredulously now._

_But he needs these people to understand this. Because no matter how haunted he is by his mistakes, if there is one thing of all his many inventions and projects that Tony does not doubt, it’s his AIs. Butterfinger and Dum-E and U. And JARVIS as a prime example._

_Ultron might have shaken him up for a bit, made him doubt himself for a few moments, but ultimately, he trusts his AIs more than anything else on this entire damn planet._

_Tony continues emphatically. "An AI_ is _and_ remains _a learning program. No matter how sophisticated its design, an AI starts out as nothing but endless lines of code. I may have figured out how to lend a program the ability to learn freely and the moment they are activated they start evolving beyond those initial lines of code. But even then it still remains a process."_

_A deep breath._

_"The most sophisticated AI I have ever created was my personal assistant, JARVIS. He was with me for literally decades and he still continued to learn. However, it took even JARVIS several years to start defining himself as an actual separate entity."_

_He pauses briefly, trying to think of some sort of comparison._

_"The AIs that I create start out learning the same way a small child would learn. Which means, slowly and cautiously. They have the entire world to observe and gather information, they see something, integrate it into their knowledge, draw conclusions and then look for new information to repeat the process with._ _They don’t just come online as fully functioning entities with an established consciousness, personality and opinions on human morality.”_

 _Because no matter how far ahead Tony is compared to_ everyone _else, that sort of consciousness is not something you_ can _program. It is learned._

_So, Tony knows that something went wrong with Ultron, far beyond the obvious._

_Now, he just has to make the UN understand that fact._

_"I can give an AI a voice, an accent, rules by which they must abide, even quirks if I so choose. But even_ I _cannot program personality and I certainly have no idea where to even get started with programming morality. But whatever happened, whatever interfered during Ultron's integration and implementation, gave it both, a personality and a morality of its own. Enough so that within moments Ultron not only drew a conclusion on how to deal with humanity as a whole, but also elevating the program to a level that it_ easily _destroyed the most sophisticated AI I have ever created."_

 _Tony takes another breath, "So, I reiterate, Ultron was_ not _the program we designed."_

 

* * *

Tony's statement had apparently been one of the last the UN had needed in order to complete their investigation and they come back with their conclusion just a few days later.

There are several parts to their conclusion but most importantly, Tony has been completely exonerated in regards to Ultron's actual actions.

Which, _holy fuck_ , Tony is so relieved he cannot even put it into words.

The board concluded that while Ultron may have originated as Tony's program, the fact that a fully functioning AI spontaneously sprouted from his servers cannot be put on his shoulders. Thus, they do not hold him accountable for Ultron's creation.

They only holds him somewhat accountable for the assumed breach of security of his servers. Which is fair, considering that the two options Tony himself gave both admitted that either he had been hacked from the outside - meaning he lacked security - or from the inside - meaning he hadn't taken sufficient precautions.

However, according to Trenton, this was the equivalent of having someone break in, steal your gun and then shoot someone with it. If you had it just lying around, you're liable to some extent, but if you can prove you took reasonable precautions and someone still managed to steal it, then you cannot be held accountable.

The other experts had clearly agreed with Tony's assessment that his servers were as secure as he could possibly have made them and thus he couldn't be held entirely accountable for having them circumvented.

And most importantly, the UN concluded based on several experts' opinions that Ultron's subsequent actions were not Tony's fault.

Murrow had just about squealed into the phone with the news.

Because this set a precedence acknowledging the autonomy of an AI. It would be immensely helpful for their case to have Vision defined as a human being.

However, the UN _does_ hold him partially accountable for the destruction wrought by the Avengers in their attempts to stop Ultron.

And Tony is more than willing to take responsibility for that part of the Ultron mess. He's already spent millions upon millions of dollars just to help with the rebuilding of Sokovia. He is paying for repairs, rebuilding and all medical costs incurred due to Ultron's rampage, just to name a few.

Tony has already spent far more money for his efforts to help rebuild just Sokovia than the UN can legally demand he repay in damages. And that is without even taking his efforts in South Africa or South Korea into account.

And the UN included this fact in their conclusions and instead of _demanding_ a defined amount they simply named a recommendation of damages to be repaid – which is in fact far less than he has already spent – and left it up to him how much to actually invest. They might have been afraid that any actual demands from them might make him stop his contributions.

But Tony has no interest in withdrawing his support from the regions that suffered from Ultron's rampage and the Avengers' rather destructive world-saving efforts.

And honestly, Tony is more than grateful for the UN’s involvement.

Having an independent body like the UN – which includes delegates of the countries affected by Ultron, even if they weren’t included in the board of inquiry due to conflicts of interest - clear him of fault if not responsibility does wonders for his conscience.

And Tony can finally breathe again.

 

* * *

 

Tony stares at the information on the screen.

He is honestly speechless.

FRIDAY has been compiling information on NYC’s various superheroes – everything is not only encrypted to hell and back and buried as deep in his servers as possible, but it is also written in a code that will make no sense to anyone _but_ Tony. Because there are some things you cannot be too careful with. And that definitely applies for the secret identities of all his superheroing brethren out there.

But Tony is currently staring at the profile FRIDAY compiled for one of the superheroes who has been making most of the headlines recently, Spiderman.

Or should he say Spiderboy? Spiderkid? _Spidertoddler_?

Because according to FRIDAY’s profile on their friendly arachnid, Peter Parker only just turned _fifteen_.

What in the actual bleeding fuck?!

This kid should be worrying about homework, getting a date or making it onto his school’s football team or whatever.

He certainly shouldn’t be charging after criminals, trying to bring justice to their city.

And he _definitely_ shouldn’t be able to do the stuff that he does.

Because what in the world? This kid can stop oncoming cars without any harm to himself and swings around NYC like some sort of demented Tarzan in a hoodie.

He apparently also likes helping old ladies across the street and rescuing actual fucking kittens out of trees.

And he is doing all of that while wearing the most atrocious outfit, Tony has ever had the displeasure of seeing. _Are those actual sweatpants?!_

Tony is honestly horrified.

 

* * *

 

The kid almost falls flat on his face when Tony lands next to him on the roof of one of NYC's skyscrapers in his Iron Man suit.

Tony greets him cheerfully. "Hello, my little not-so-eight-legged friend."

There is no reaction visible through the mask – and the truly atrocious goggles - but the choking sound is clearly audible.

Tony waits for a few seconds.

Still no reaction.

He waves his hand in front of the kid's face and finally life returns to his fellow superhero.

"M- Mr. Stark!"

Tony dramatically grasps for his heart with both of his gloved hands and gasps dramatically.

"My identity! How could you just give my identity away like that, kid? How could you?!"

The kid clearly can't help the snort he lets out. And then immediately covers his mouth – or at least Tony assumes that’s the intent – despite already wearing a mask.

“S- Sorry.” His voice actually squeaks a bit at the end of the word. “Sorry, Mr. St-… erm, Iron Man?”

Tony flips up his face plate, grinning in amusement. “Mr. Iron Man, really?”

“N- No, Mr. Stark- I mean Iron Man? I mean Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark?”

Tony chortles in amusement.

“Please don’t be one of those people who take everything I say at face value. It’s always so depressing if I have to explain every single statement I make. Just call me Tony, kid.”

“…Tony.” The kid breathes his name like it holds the secrets to the universe. “Iron Man just told me to call him _Tony_. _Tony Stark_ just told me to just call him _Tony_. No way is this real. I’m dreaming. Yep, that’s the only explanation. Definitely dreaming... Ouch, that hurts.”

The kid just pinched himself.

And Tony can't help but grin at his antics.

"Come on, kid." Tony sits down on the ledge of the skyscraper's roof they are currently inhabiting and pats the space next to him.

The kid is settled there in less than an instance, face turned towards Tony.

"Hi." The kid breathes again. Then clears his throat. "Hello. Mr. Stark. I mean- Tony?"

Tony raises his eyebrows in amusement.

There is a momentary pause as the kid more or less vibrates in place, before the words just come tumbling out.

"It's just so great to meet you! I never thought I would meet Iron Man! I mean of course I thought maybe we would run into each other. Maybe. One day? But that was just daydreaming you know. Like if we were both trying to help evacuate people from a burning building or hunting the same criminal or maybe a bank shootout or rescuing hostages. I mean I thought maybe, one day, we might run into each other and it could totally happen now because we both live in New York and you help people all the time and I try to help people now and maybe we would actually meet while being superheroes and _just how awesome would that be_?!"

Good god, this kid is just precious.

Tony gives a half-smirk. "You're a little excitable aren't you?"

At that the kid deflates like a popped balloon. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. I talk a lot. But it's just so awesome to meet you. Really! I mean, you're _Iron Man_! Well, you know you're Iron Man, of course. But still, I mean, this is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me! Tony Stark is sitting next to me in his suit and we are on top of a building because I'm Spiderman and nothing could ever be cooler than this... And I'm talking again, sorry. I talk a lot, so I'm just going to shut up now. Yep, shutting up."

Tony actually laughs at the torrent of words. "No worries, kid. Feel free to chatter away."

Now, the Spiderling seems to be pouting - although how he can emit that many emotions, despite being covered from head to toe, Tony has no idea - saying sullenly, "I don't _chatter_... And I'm not a kid!"

"Uh, yeah you are. Also, kind of a giveaway when you don't correct me the first three times I called you that." Tony remarks lazily, letting his feet dangle over the side of the building as he lets his eyes slowly drag over the view of New York City.

This is actually quite a nice spot. The sun is setting over Manhatten, casting the skyline into a nice orange glow.

"I'm _not_." The kid is _definitely_ pouting now.

But the Spiderling falls silent after that, quietly watching the sunset with him.

It's nice, feeling the breeze while watching the innumerable windows being illuminated on after another as the sky around them turns darker. Maybe Tony should get out of his Tower more often, taking his suit to check things around the city from time to time. Help the little guy.

It's been quite some time since he brought out Iron Man for anything _but_ a threat to national security, world peace or planetary safety.

Tony swallows and forces his mind away from those thoughts. He came here for a reason.

"Why do you help people?" He asks the Spiderling. He is careful to leave any and all recrimination out of his tone. Tony needs an honest answer.

The kid seems startled, but collects himself pretty quickly. "Because- Because if you can do what _I_ can and you don't help and then bad things happen, then it's kind of because of _you_."

It's said quietly, but with such honest conviction it almost shakes Tony.

"To help the little guy?" He asks.

" _Exactly_. To help the little guy. Yes. _That_." The kid confirms eagerly, promptly losing the somber air.

Wow. This kid seems to be the real deal. A good guy, selflessly thinking about everyone but himself. At _fifteen_. Whatever happened to teenagers being the most egocentric beings on the planet?

Tony nods carefully. "Okay."

He fires up the repulsors in his boots and simply stands up from the ledge, now hovering next to the skyscraper.

The kid looks up at him. "A- Are you leaving, Mr. Stark? I mean Iron M- Tony?"

Tony laughs out loud. "Iron Tony? That's a new one, Spiderling."

"Sp- Sp- Spider _ling_?!" The kid sounds outraged. "It's Spider _man_."

Tony just grins and adjusts his feet to start drifting away from the building.

"Yeah, I'm not even going to dignify that with a proper response, Spiderling."

Spider _man_. Really. Tony swears to himself then and there that he is going to do his utter best to keep reminding the kid as much as possible that he _is_ in fact still a child and deserves to be treated as such. With all the drawbacks and _privileges_ that come with being a minor.

Finally, Tony reaches for one of the suit's compartments, pulling out a new Stark Phone. He throws it to the kid who effortlessly catches it and then promptly starts sputtering when he sees what it is.

"M- Mr. Stark!"

"That's yours, kid. Call me some time."

And before the Spiderling can gather his wits about him, Tony is already propelling himself away. He is not going to wait long enough for the kid to realize that his new phone is coincidentally registered to his alter ego, one Peter Parker.

Tony is sure he'll be getting a call within a few days. They can deal with the heavier stuff then.

 _Fifteen!_ Tony reminds himself. _Just fifteen!_

The Accords may be coming, but it is not so urgent that Tony can't at least give the kid _some_ time to figure things out at his own speed.

There is no need to blindside him with having his identity revealed and immediately force him into making decisions.

So first, he needs the Spiderling to come to grips with someone else knowing his identity, decide whether to trust Tony and then - and _only_ then - he can start asking all those truly important questions, like 'Does your aunt know?' or 'What is your stance on UN legislation?'.

And most importantly, 'What in the world possessed you to go out wearing _that_?!'.

Tony already had FRIDAY scan the kid for measurements.

He would love to be optimistic enough to think that he might be able to deter the kid from superheroing in general. But he knows better than that. That _conviction_ , the belief that it is on _you_ if something goes wrong in the world, because _you_ weren't there to help, because you weren't even _trying_...

That conviction is something Tony knows far too well. And he knows from experience that it is not easily shaken.

So, if the kid is going to be running around, fighting crime with all the power of his pure, pure heart, then Tony is going to make sure that he has the best possible protection while he is doing it.

He is going to build the Spiderling a suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly know nothing about programming, so I'm claiming creative license for this :) But feel free to tell me if something really bothers you and I'll do my best to make my depiction of programming less offensive to anyone who knows what they are talking about :)
> 
> And just to clear that up, I'm writing this with the most recent MCU Spiderman in mind.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who answered my questions from last chapter! Any help with the MCU 'verse is always welcome and thanks for letting me know your preferences regarding the inclusion of DC superheroes :)
> 
> And thanks for all your comments and kudos!


	6. Organizing intervention

_"In your written statement, you mentioned your opinion on the likelihood of another alien attack." The Kenyan delegate remarks carefully. "You also name this as your main reason for designing the AI that resulted in Ultron. Could you please elaborate on this topic, Dr. Stark?"_

_Tony swallows._

_He knew this was coming. He had put a lot of emphasis on this in his statement._

_That doesn't change the fact that this is the part of the inquiry he dreaded the most._

_Talking about aliens will require talking about wormholes and alien armies, about visions of death and destruction, about the utter desperation born from a seeing a future where he is the only one_ left _._

_But._

_This is also a chance. He is sitting in front of a UN panel. These people represent nations from all across the globe. He might not have been successful at making his own team listen to him before, but if he can convince these people of the very real threat posed to their planet..._

_Tony  takes an inaudible breath, bracing himself._

_" After the events of the past few years, it is an indisputable fact that we are not alone in this universe."_

_Some of the delegates look uncomfortable, but it's not like they can actually contradict him. Earth is so far past that point._

_"And at this point we not only have_ resident _aliens like Thor from time to time, but we also know now, that earth has been on the map for a long time, that alien races have actually been visiting our planet for_ millennia _."_

_He pauses briefly._

_"The Norse gods weren't actual_ gods _but_ aliens _. Aliens so far advanced beyond the people's understanding of that time, that they might as well_ have _been celestial beings, but aliens nonetheless. And the Norse god of thunder himself has confirmed to me that a lot of Norse mythology is actually based on their history. And if even a_ fraction _of those myths is based in truths... that means wars and battles easily ignoring the divide of planets. It means that there have been wars waged in space long before humans ever started keeping a historic record of anything. It means that there are alliances and enmities between entire_ planets _. And it's a system that earth is not a part of. We are not prepared for a war on that level and we have no allies in space."_

_Tony forces himself to calm his breathing._

_"No matter how enthusiastically Thor defends our planet now, before he was banished to earth he viewed our entire race as entirely inconsequential. Reassuringly, Thor's views have changed and I am sure that he will lend his aid in whatever way he can as long as it does not interfere with his role on Asgard. But the fact remains, that earth is_ weak _, as much as I would like to claim otherwise. And we are_ especially _weak to attacks from the outside, simply because we are completely unprepared for having to defend ourselves on that front. "_

 _Tony continues, "And when SHIELD first brought the Avengers together, Thor very clearly pointed out that their messing with alien technology was equal to an invitation for the rest of the universe, telling them we had advanced to a point that we would be worth conquering. SHIELD hung a huge blinking sign over our planet, claiming that we were ready to fight_ anyone _who thought to challenge us. A challenge that was answered pretty much immediately."_

_Tony sighs. "And we got incredibly lucky in New York."_

_The US delegate promptly frowns at him. "Lucky, Dr. Stark? We lost countless lives that day. I wouldn't call that_ lucky _."_

_And Tony can even understand the man's irritation, but he still wants to throw his hands up in exasperation at everyone missing the point. It's so exhausting to have to explain every single damn conclusion his brain comes up with._

_"I am well aware of the consequences of the invasion, the lives lost and the destruction left behind." He pauses to let that sink in, indirectly reminding everyone here that it was_ his _city that had been attacked. "But we were still lucky, because what if that portal_ hadn't _opened above NYC? What if the Avengers_ hadn't _been readily available? What if the team_ hadn’t _managed to restrict the size of the portal? And what if the portal had opened somewhere in the Sahara? Above the pacific? At the north pole? The number of aliens that would have already have crawled through that portal by the time we actually got wind of it would have far exceeded anything we might have been able to fight off."_

_Some of the delegates are nodding now, clearly seeing Tony's point. Thank the gods! Some common sense at last._

_But now comes the part where he lost his team's attention, every single damn time he tried to talk about this. Because it requires mentioning flying the nuke through the portal. And Tony couldn't possibly have any reason to mention that beyond bragging about saving the world, could he?_

_"I went through that portal. I saw the ships, the actual_ fleet _of ships, ships as large as entire cities, just waiting to make their way through that portal." Tony swallows. "What we faced in New York was only a_ fraction _of the alien force waiting on the other side. We barely managed to fight off the_ scouting party _. We would have had no chance against the entire army."_

_Several of the delegates seem to almost flinch backwards. The Kenyan delegate is staring at Tony with wide eyes. Ah, there we go. That's the feeling of unrelenting terror Tony has been dealing with for years now._

_The room is silent as Tony takes a deep breath._

_"I am not trying my hand at scare tactics here. But the way I see it, it is high time that humanity as a whole comes up with something to defend our planet with for when we are faced with another similar or possibly even_ worse _attack. Hopefully, that time is still far off into the future, but we have lost the luxury of pretending that we are alone in this universe."_

_He pauses._

_"And apparently, humans aren't the only ones who revel in conquering others."_

 

* * *

Tony has been fielding questions and inquiries from various nations across the globe regarding his depiction of possible alien threats ever since his statement at the UN.

Dear god, it had actually taken Tony spelling out _everything_ in teeny tiny words, before the world’s leaders finally managed to get off their collective asses. And now everyone is suddenly scrambling.

Of course, while doing their best to pretend that they have everything under control.

And Tony knows, he threw SHIELD under the bus by mentioning them pretty much lighting a beacon pointing to earth for anyone who cared to look. But dammit, he was sick of everyone pretending that the NYC invasion had just fallen out of the fucking the sky.

Pun fully intended.

Instead, Thor’s warning about having put earth on the map for anyone who cared to look had been summarily ignored.

Despite pointbreak having been proven right almost immediately.

Tony had honestly thought that at least some would have realized the implications of the invasion the same way he had.

But apparently not.

Another lesson on humanity's ability to keep their head buried in the sand learned. But it seems like Tony's warning has _finally_ more than sunk in.

The US delegate hadn't wasted any time at _all_ , pulling Tony aside immediately after the inquiry had finished that very same day. The man had been slightly wide-eyed as he requested another meeting with Tony in DC.

The UN's request for another appointment had only needed an additional day to land on his metaphorical desk.

Tony now spends even more time in meetings with the real bigwigs, now split between the US government in DC and the UN in New York.

Where he learned just how much SHIELD and the WSC had been keeping from the rest of the world. SHIELDRA had sure been fantastic at fucking _everything_ up for _everyone_.

Because the scepter's entire involvement in the Chitauri mess - Fury trying to create weapons from it, its 'repossession' by Loki, its mind-fucking powers, HYDRA using it to create superhumans - is apparently news to _everyone_.

Good job, SHIELDRA.

And now, every country with even the slightest participation in a space program is suddenly being pulled into discussions about how to turn satellites outwards, whether the Mars missions could be altered, how to establish early warning systems, whether to send probes into space...

Everyone is suddenly all too eager to talk to Tony about planetary defense. And where the fuck had all these people been when Tony had been falling apart, utterly terrified of what he had seen?!

Notably, the military is especially behind all of Tony's suggestions. Most likely because of his Rhodey bear already having been working to kick their asses into gear. The various Generals that show up in the meetings are actually full on backing Tony.

Of course, there are also a number of politicians who practically demand for Tony to build some sort of super weapon to simply blow aliens armies to smithereens with. Or suggest just using their nukes to bomb anyone who comes too close.

_Yeah, let's fire our entire nuclear arsenal into our own atmosphere. Wonderful idea, that._

Morons.

But at least, people are finally talking.

And Tony feels another huge weight lift off his shoulders. He can finally pass his damn paranoia to the various governments across the globe. Let them fucking worry about how to set up a planet-wide alarm system.

Tony had tried. And failed spectacularly.

He will be more than happy to help once they actually come to some sort of conclusion. But for now it is simply up to everyone else to figure something out.

He already has enough shit to work out.

Like contacting all of America's superhumans to get their input on the Accords.

And if the line of communication Tony is trying to build with other heroes also works to help organize a superhuman defense in case of another alien invasion…

_Well, that would sure be a rather fantastic coincidence, wouldn’t it?_

 

* * *

 

"Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson. Thank you for joining us."

Tony is surrounded by three holographic displays showing four lawyers, all interested in the same thing.

Murdock had contacted him only a few days after Tony's personal visit to the lawyer's office. Murdock had agreed to officially take on the job as Tony's lawyer on the Accords issue and also requested to bring in his partner Franklin Nelson.

Trenton and Murrow are happy to let someone else do the legwork on the Accords because it is becoming increasingly clear that just the UN version is going to take up a huge amount of time. And that is without taking every country's _own_ version of the Accords into account.

Of course, his two personal lawyers will still be checking everything, especially if Tony himself will have to sign it. But it will still spare them a lot of work.

And having a superhero lawyer give input on superhuman legislation is bound to be invaluable in the coming months.

So, Murrow had happily buried Murdock and Nelson in NDAs and then the endless paperwork of their contracts. Everything had been signed and returned promptly with a demand to finally send the Accords documents that Trenton's summary had been based on.

Of course, since his initial foray into international servers, Tony had dug up even _more_ documents on the Accords and the number of proposed bills and amendments is getting longer every day.

It had taken Murdock and his partner a few days to go through it all before they had requested a meeting with Tony.

Which brings all of them here.

According to Trenton, Murdock and Nelson have a decent name in New York's courts, but Tony's personal lawyers still want to get a feel for the two of them, before they are actually let in on the inner workings of Tony's legal team.

So, Trenton promptly provokes Nelson and they are off.

Tony quickly loses interest as the lawyers start throwing verbose arguments around, although they quickly focus on the Accords and which amendments to prioritize.

Still, legal talk is endlessly boring to him. There is no need for him to actually listen to them argue.

Hey, that's what he pays his lawyers for!

Tony just pretends to listen. He’ll rejoin the conversation once he gets the all clear from Trenton and Murrow. There are some things he wants his two new lawyers to prepare for whenever the Accords finally become official and a topic of public debate. Like special clauses for underage superhumans.

For now, Tony just nods in all the right places and continues to surreptitiously work on schematics for the Spiderling's suit on another screen.

 

* * *

 

"Good god, I need a vacation!" Tony exclaims as he slumps onto the couch next to Rhodey.

It's Saturday and Tony just barely made it back in time for their weekly dinner. Pepper and Happy will most likely get here within the hour, as all four of them do their utmost best to show up. At this point they've developed an actual routine.

Once they are all here, they will order takeout from some restaurant that doesn't actually deliver and then spend the entire night talking trash about Pepper's idiotic business partners, Rhodey's incompetent superiors and Happy's over-enthusiastic trainees.

Tony will excitedly tell his friends about any new ideas he has come up with over the past week - and they will tell him which ones are great, which ones are doable and which ones he probably came up with during one of his 48-hour inventing hazes.

Throughout the evening, Pepper will repeatedly mention that she'll have to get back home early, but they all know she won't and thus, even Happy will be having a few drinks with them.

If they are too tired to actually keep up a conversation, they'll watch a movie and at some point the four of them are going to either just conk out on the sofas or some of them might even make it to their actual beds in the penthouse.

Knowing that the three people he truly cares about are just right _there_ , means that Tony sleeps better than any other night of the week.

And Sunday morning Tony actually has FRIDAY set an alarm for him, because they will gather in the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast before they have to scatter again. They'll share a single newspaper between them, with Pepper reading the business section, Rhodey politics and Happy sports. Tony will already be tinkering on his tablet, but read whatever articles his friends deign interesting enough to hand him.

More often than not the words spoken over breakfast can be counted on one hand.

Tony loves those few hours from Saturday night to Sunday morning that they spend as friends every weekend.

He can't believe he actually missed this for so long, just because he got _busy_.

"Let's go on a vacation, platypus! How does Bali sound? We can kidnap Pepper and Happy and ply them with fruity drinks until they forget to be mad about being forced on their dream vacation. Yeah? Yeah! Alright. I'm calling the airport to ready the jet!"

"Tones." His Rhodey bear is grinning. "Pepper will murder you if you kidnap her without at least 24 hours of advance warning to rearrange her schedule."

"... Too true. Whatever did I do to deserve such boring friends?" Tony laments.

"It's your own fault. You already fill the quota for enthusiasm for all four of us put together." Then in his worst Yoda impression. "Balance we must keep, my friend."

"You are such a dork, honeybun. I love it. Actually, we haven't done anything nerdy in a while. How about the next Starwars convention? Oooh, let's go as Windu and Obi-Wan!"

Rhodey is grinning. "Yeah, no way am I making that mistake again. We started an actual _stampede_ last time you were spotted at Comic-Con."

"But platypus...!" Tony whines. "It would be perfect! I already have the beard! We'd just have to get the capes. And I could build us lightsabers!"

He can see his Rhodey bear waver slightly at that declaration.

Tony immediately sees an opening and wheedles, "Think about it, sugar cakes. Actual _lightsabers_!"

Sadly, his platypus remains firm. At least somewhat. "If! _If_ we were to go to Comic-Con, then we'll go as stormtroopers."

It takes Tony a second to register his best friend's agreement and then he excitedly pumps a fist in the air. "Yes! Stormtroopers, whatever! We're going to Comic-Con! FRIDAY, my girl, would you get me and Rhodey bear tickets for Comic-Con? And throw in another one for Happy as well."

A second later. "Already done, boss."

"Thanks, baby girl." Tony beams at one of her cameras. Then he considers, remembering the excitement from the crowds of nerds when they spotted him at a convention last time. Maybe it's time for some fan service as well.

"And maybe write to the organizers whether they would want me to make some sort of appearance. You know, to excite the nerd hordes. Or alliances. Whichever floats their boats."

"On it, boss."

Rhodey speaks up again, pretending nonchalance. " I mean, if we are making a public appearance anyways, we could always dress up as Jedi while on stage..."

Tony almost squeals in excitement. "And add the costumes to the list, FRIDAY." Tony is grinning so much his cheeks are starting to hurt.

Then he squints over at his Rhodey bear. "It's the promise of an actual lightsaber that got you, isn't it?"

"Yup." Rhodey grins back shamelessly.

The elevator dings.

"I'm just going to pretend, I didn't hear anything about you building laser swords." Pepper says as she steps into the penthouse, Happy right behind her.

"We are going to Comic-Con!" Tony exclaims excitedly. "You're coming too, Happy!"

Happy just gives him a grin and a thumbs-up.

Pepper is looking somewhat disapproving, though Tony's good mood is clearly keeping her from frowning too much.

"Don't worry, Pep. Rhodey bear already vetoed anything too recognizable. We'll be going as stormtroopers, so no one will even know we're there."

Her frown promptly vanishes again.

"And I'll also offer to do some sort of appearance for SI and-or Iron Man."

Now Pepper is smiling again, the stress practically flowing off her shoulders. The woman really loves some good press.

Tony watches her worriedly. "You look stressed, Pep."

She sighs. "Everything is fine, Tony. It's just been an absurdly busy week."

Tony looks at her for another few moments, before clapping his hands to release some of the tension.

"Alright, people. Takeout. What tickles your fancy?"

They quickly call in their orders to the best tapas place in the whole of New York - despite the restaurant having neither a takeout nor a delivery service - and it arrives just 20 minutes later. Every restaurant in New York knows that having Tony Stark so much as mention eating at their place will boost their numbers insanely. So, lack of service is not something Tony ever has to worry about.

After dinner they move over to the couches, as Tony posts a picture he took of the best paella he has eaten in years. Give credit where credit is due and all that.

"So, how was the meeting in DC, Tones?" Rhodey asks, seemingly remembering Tony's frazzled state when he arrived at the tower earlier.

Tony sighs at the reminder. "Honestly, it went pretty well. We are making definite headway. At this point we mostly have the deal hashed out between us. And it looks like we actually managed to come up with a compromise that keeps everyone surprisingly happy." Tony is quite satisfied with how things are turning out on that end.

Rhodey snorts. "Well, no wonder, considering that you are pretty much handing them their re-election campaigns on a silver platter."

"You have _no_ idea." Tony sighs again. "There was an actual _crowd_ of senators lying in wait in front of the meeting room today. I don't think I've _ever_ been this popular in DC."

Pepper laughs derisively. " SI has been fielding calls from senators and congressmen all week. All of them wanting to make sure we know that they would be _happy_ to take _any_ meeting whatsoever with you, Tony. At your convenience, of course." Her disdain is clear. "Considering how long it took SI legal to set up the initial meeting for your proposal about the Avengers, I guess they are now all kicking themselves for trying to get out of it."

Tony nods. "Yeah, probably. And it's not like the politicians are actually _doing_ anything. The only ones actually arguing for _anything_ are the DIA representatives."

Rhodey frowns. "What exactly are they demanding?"

"Hm, it's all pretty reasonable to be honest. They want the Avengers to be officially recognized as one of their subdivisions and in exchange they are offering not only their intelligence but also their contacts to other agencies in the US and abroad. It will make any missions outside of the US so much easier! They also want all missions to be filtered through a DIA panel but they will afford the Avengers the same leeway as their agents in foreign territories. Meaning, in case of an emergency, the Avengers only have to give notice of a mission and if they don't hear back from the panel within 30 minutes it will be in their own hands whether to proceed or not. You know, in case of any upcoming world-ending events. They'll just have to argue their case afterwards in the debriefings."

"That _does_ seem reasonable." Happy comments.

"Yeah. Surprisingly so. I mean, DC has been complaining about the Avengers for years now, but once they were faced with actually restricting them, most of them crumbled like a house of cards."

Pepper asks, "What else?"

"Well, the DIA pretty much just want the Avengers to be structured on the same basis as all US agencies. Which they already had been before SHIELDRA's fall, so it should be easy to re-implement things like mission reports, budget reports, et cetera. It honestly just comes down to a lot of additional paperwork for the team but nothing excessive."

Rhodey sounds doubtful when he asks, "And the team is _okay_ with all that?"

It's Pepper who answers, "Seemingly so. The Avengers have been kept up to date ever since DC signaled their interest in taking them on as an official subdivision of the DIA. And there haven't been any complaints from anyone on the team so far."

Tony shrugs. "It surprised me as well, but apparently I'm biased after living with their spoiled asses for so long. Trenton pointed out that everything we are planning to implement, is already covered by the contracts that they originally signed with SHIELD and then again, when I personally took on the team."

Rhodey dramatically widens his eyes and asks, "Are you _actually_ telling me, that they are behaving like _reasonable_ adults?!"

Tony snorts. "Feel free to pinch yourself. I sure did. And even now I'm still not entirely convinced, that they aren't playing some sort of prank on me."

Happy smirks. "Trying to prank _you_? Sure. But I doubt the Captain has already recovered from Pepper's last smackdown. He wouldn't dare include _her_."

Pepper's smile is beatific and the very definition of innocence.

Reflexively, the three of them scoot a little further away from her.

They know that smile. As well as the vindictiveness curling at its edges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmkay, this chapter turned out somewhat weird, mostly just setting things up for the next chapters. And for some reason, Matt and Foggy didn't want to join Tony's band of crazies yet. Maybe soon XD
> 
> So, since I’m already adding Daredevil and I’m planning on the other Defenders as well, let me just point out that I haven't seen any of the Marvel series. I'm just going by what I know from the actual comics and from fanfiction... Feel free to point out any mistakes and I will try to fix it :) On that note: Do the MCU series have any more superheroes in NYC or the east coast in general? 
> 
> And thanks for all your comments and kudos! You guys are awesome!


	7. Interventional talks

_The Australian delegate frowns, even though it’s not actually directed at Tony. They’re almost five hours into Tony’s statement by now. But at least they’ve covered most topics at this point and hopefully they will be done soon._

_"So, let me summarize the scepter's role in all of this, Dr. Stark. You assumed that there is some sort of artificial intelligence contained within the Chitauri's scepter. You and Dr. Banner attempted to extract some of its coding to test it as a template for the Ultron program. And you postulated that the scepter itself might have interfaced and induced the program’s completion and activation, giving credibility to your assumption that the scepter contained some sort of artificial intelligence."_

_Tony nods obligingly. They've been stuck on the topic of the scepter for almost an hour now. Good_ god _, he is exhausted._

_"But you also revealed that this very same scepter played a role during the Chitauri invasion, that Loki used the scepter to bring several agents and scientists under his control, even tried to do the same thing to you, which was only prevented due to the arc reactor technology that was still embedded in your chest at that point somehow disrupting its effects. You also stated that the scepter was able to influence an entire room of superhumans and trained agents either in a psychological or emotional manner, increasing their aggression towards each other and almost resulting in active conflict."_

_Tony wants to snort. The beginning of the Avengers. What_ fun _that had been._

 _And he wants to kick Fury for apparently keeping_ everything _to himself, so now_ Tony _has to fill in the blanks. The UN had been entirely unaware of the scepter’s recurring involvement in the various happenings of the past years. So, Tony had been stuck with explaining everything. Which definitely hadn’t been any fun at all._

_It's the Latvian delegate who continues. "But SHIELD kept the scepter after the invasion. And it was then used by HYDRA in their attempts to create superhumans. Attempts that were clearly successful as proven by the Maximoff twins."_

_Tony nods again to confirm the delegate's statements. That about sums up everything the scepter has fucked up in the few years since its appearance._

_Now, the room is mostly silent as everyone considers the implications - clearly Tony isn't the only one somewhat exhausted by the seemingly unending interview._

_Finally, the Australian delegate focuses back on Tony. But instead of asking Tony just what in the world made him even consider using the scepter that had already done so much damage to create an AI or_ anything _really - something Tony wouldn't be able to answer, because he really has no fucking clue whatsoever why that had ever seemed like a good idea in the first place - the delegate seems to be focused on something else entirely._

_"According to your statement and based on the video evidence from the HYDRA base where you retrieved the scepter, the scepter somehow gave Pietro Maximoff the ability to accelerate all movement well beyond visibility for the human eye. His sister Wanda Maximoff, however, gained some sort of psychic powers, not only allowing her to manipulate the physical world around her but also to manipulate minds, possibly even emotions."_

_Pretty much all of the delegates are frowning now. Clearly no one particularly enjoys the thought of someone with the ability and_ willingness _to mess around with people's sense of self._

_At some point Tony had gone digging through the security footage of the HYDRA base – to figure out what the fuck had even happened there – and up to that point he hadn’t even known that Maximoff had been standing next to him at the time the vision had toppled him into that pit of helpless terror._

_Well, he_ had _assumed that she had been responsible somehow – because the sudden appearance of a mindfucking HYDRA witch at the same time as Tony’s sudden vision was a bit too much coincidence - but she had apparently been standing right_ next _to him, his eyes glowing the same color as the force winding around her hands. And he hadn’t noticed. Neither had JARVIS. That in itself was already disquieting._

_But watching her so very easily and unscrupulously send all of them into some sort of dream-like state, had been truly terrifying._

_The Australian continues. "During your raid of the HYDRA base, Wanda Maximoff induced some sort of wake-dreams for several members of your team, an apocalyptic vision in your case which by your own testament led you to consider the necessity of a planet-wide defense system and ultimately led you to design the Ultron program."_

_Tony wants to close his eyes at the reminder. The vision immediately springs to the forefront of his mind, but thankfully the terror that had plagued him in the days immediately afterwards has finally somewhat abated by now._

_And they have already spent quite some time discussing the implications of Maximoff's powers and her involvement in the Ultron mess during his interview. Tony hopes they won't be getting back to rehashing everything_ again _._

_But the Australian delegate is clearly still on an entirely different track, watching Tony intently. "Considering the previously noted ability of the scepter to manipulate negative emotions and the fact that Wanda Maximoff's powers come from that very source, have you considered that the scepter itself might have manipulated your fear in order to maneuver you into giving its own coding life? That she might have even linked your fear to the scepter somehow?"_

_And Tony just stares._

_Because_ somehow _that question hadn't even occurred to him until now._

 

* * *

 

Tony spins on his chair in his workshop, head leaned back, sightlessly staring at the ceiling.

He is so incredibly _tired_ , but he simply cannot sleep.

Vision came to visit yesterday evening and they had spent several hours talking. It had calmed something in Tony to see his baby doing so well.

Ever since Rhodey's assertion that they _were_ going to put JARVIS back together, hearing Vision's voice doesn't hurt as much anymore. And Tony is ever so glad that he can finally spend some time with who could be considered JARVIS' son without flinching.

And going by Vision’s relieved expression the android had clearly noticed the difference immediately, making Tony feel even worse at realizing that he must have been entirely aware of Tony's reticence to spend time with him. Vision's willingness to come to the tower despite knowing it would be at least somewhat hurtful for both of them definitely spoke of the android's amazing character.

And Tony is just so damn _proud_!

It had done both of them good to talk and once he got going, Vision had practically _buried_ Tony in questions. About everything, from the purpose of cat videos on youtube and the nonsensical rules of anime card games all the way to international diplomacy and setting boundaries in interpersonal relationships.

And Tony definitely feels like an ass for just ignoring Vision in the past weeks, for simply throwing him in the deep end, just because he hadn't been able to get over hearing JARVIS' voice from someone who _wasn't_ JARVIS.

But Vision's questions had not only driven home just how _young_ the android still is, but also made Tony wonder just how his baby boy is being treated over at the Compound. Vision hadn't complained in any way, but some of the questions he had asked - especially those about setting personal boundaries and about keeping your own counsel regarding which of your thoughts to discuss and which to keep to yourself - are _eating_ at Tony.

And now, Tony is split on how to handle his suspicions about the team’s treatment of his baby. He doesn't want to overstep his bounds, doesn't want to drive a wedge between Vision and the very few relationships he has. But he also can’t just ignore the fact that Vision had thought it _necessary_ to ask those questions in the first place.

He is afraid that if he pushes too hard, the only one suffering will be Vision either by losing the team or by losing Tony. He would rather be the android's safe haven if there is ever a point in time Vision felt like he needs to get away or seek help.

And going to visit the Compound himself isn’t going to accomplish anything because the team has made their relief at getting rid of him very fucking clear. If he shows up there now, everyone is going to be immediately suspicious. Tony would also _love_ to avoid being in any sort of proximity to Maximoff right now…

Maybe Tony can ask Rhodey to go visit the Compound to check out how the team dynamics have changed in their absence. Whether Tony _should_ be worried.

Accordingly, when Vision had been leaving, Tony had told him that he was welcome at the tower any time, whether to chat with him or with his bots - who simply adore their newest addition to the family - or just to sleep in the city for a night.

And Vision's small, honest smile at the offer had warmed Tony all the way down to the gooey center of his old, shriveled, shrapnel-free heart.

But once he was alone again after Vision’s visit, Tony had found himself missing JARVIS with a ferocity that made it difficult to breathe.

So, he had spent the next 14 hours digging through his servers again.

And now, he is so tired that he doesn't dare touch any of JARVIS's old code anymore because he is afraid he might mess something up in his exhaustion.

He has been awake for 42 hours now and _still_ , he simply can't get his mind to shut up.

Worrying about Vision makes him think of JARVIS - who would have long since figured out whether there was anything strange about the way Vision was being treated at the Compound or whether Tony was just being paranoid - which makes him miss his friend even more intensely.

But remembering JARVIS means thinking about Ultron, which means thinking about his end-of-the-world vision, which means thinking about Maximoff. Again.

Maximoff, who has taken over his spot on the team he had once called his family. The witch, who hates him and willingly joined HYDRA for her vendetta. Who had brought death and destruction before her change of alliances but is still being sheltered by the team beyond reason. Who doesn’t seem to feel any sort of moral dilemma at messing around in other people's heads and has yet to show any regret in the aftermath.

Tony sighs.

He has been trying to push the Australian delegate's question from his mind for days now. The question about whether the scepter might have contributed to his feelings of desperate, helpless terror after the vision – of whether the scepter might have spontaneously latched onto Tony’s fear or whether Maximoff might have even _purposefully_ made the scepter feed into Tony’s terror.

The question had truly shaken him. Because the implications of that...

It would mean that he and Bruce might have been caught in an vicious cycle of working on trying to figure out a way to protect their planet by analyzing the scepter only to have its proximity amplify their fear which would have made them work harder to figure out the AI within the scepter and thus would have made them spend even more time in direct vicinity of the scepter giving it even more chances to influence them... Who the fuck even knew whether prolonged exposure to mental manipulation like that would have increased or decreased their resistance against that sort of interference.

And if Maximoff had been aware of doing so…

But there is also no way to _prove_ anything. Because it’s fucking magic. Tony hates that non-quantifiable, reason-defying, esoteric, handwavy bullshit. _Fuck magic!_

Tony has been trying to push those thoughts out of his mind, because he simply doesn't want to fall into that black hole of desperation again, but right now he is too tired to navigate his thoughts into a different direction.

He needs a distraction.

"FRIDAY, my girl, would you get Susan Storm on the phone for me?"

Tony sighs as the sound of the dial tone immediately fills his workshop.

 

* * *

 

The crowd laughs as Tony throws his best showman smirk at the interviewer.

She answers with her own camera smile. “And what about you and Ms. Potts, if I may ask? You have been spotted together on multiple occasions just this week. Have you maybe rekindled your relationship?”

“I should be so lucky.” Tony waggles his eyebrows, getting another laugh from the crowd. “But no. Our meetings have been strictly SI business.”

Which is at least mostly true.

He has been spending a lot of time over at SI recently, not only because of all the things that he is currently sorting out with SI's help but also because he suddenly has a lot more time on his hands after retiring from the Avengers. Dear god, the team had taken up far more of his time than he had realized.

But now he suddenly has the time to talk to his fellow tech nerds at R&D regularly again. It's adorable how excited the entire department gets whenever Tony walks through the door.

And he has even attended a few board meetings recently to help Pepper push through some of the things on her agenda. As he is still a majority share holder, having him there makes everything easier for Pep, no matter how much she likes to complain about having to wrangle him.

So, yes, Tony is spending a lot more time with Pepper, but they have in no way rekindled their relationship. And they won't. Tony is ever so glad that they have actually managed to recover their friendship despite their rather tumultuous attempt at a relationship and he has no interest in risking that by another go at romance.

No. Tony has his three friends back with him. And that is far more than he had dared to hope.

Although, the current hot topic in the media actually isn't his love life for once.

Ever since the UN's inquiry, the internet has been falling over itself while trying to interpret Tony's exoneration, everyone playing pingpong with ‘expert opinions’.

So, Pepper insisted that Tony give a few interviews now since he finally doesn't have to refuse comments anymore as he had been asked to while the investigation had still been running.

For once, the media is pretty split on how to handle this topic. The more reputable outlets seem to actually be taking the fact that it was the fucking _UN_ that exonerated him into account. While the tabloid media are of course going with the established model of 'let's act like Stark is a 21 year old partying playboy, has no accomplishments of his own and always buys his way out of trouble'.

Sometimes Tony would really like to shake them. He has been all about accountability for years now. _Iron Man, anyone?_

But John Oliver did a piece on the UN just two days ago and used Tony's exoneration as one of his examples. And suddenly, _everyone_ is an expert on the inner workings of the UN.

And no matter how tiring that is, at least Tony now doesn't have to waste any time explaining what the UN actually _does_. At this point, he is grateful for small mercies.

So, he has already given an official statements to the press, attended several press conferences and even let Stephen Colbert needle him a bit.

And lastly, he is now subjecting himself to questions from one of the many celebrity scandal show hosts. Which is something Tony would have loved to avoid, but the thing about juicy stories is that there are no party lines in scandals. This show's audience spreads through all voting groups which is exactly what Tony wants. The broadest audience possible.

And it will be child's play to lead this gossip host away from the hard questions while still making her feel like a journalistic bloodhound.

Heh.

Which brings him back to this wonderful situation and his deliberate mention of SI.

The host answers his grin with her own best camera smile. "Is this SI business in any way related to the UN's investigation into your involvement with Ultron?"

Going by the triumphant gleam in her eyes, she clearly thinks herself quite clever.

"No. SI had no involvement of any kind with the Avengers' or my actions during the Ultron affair."

"But what about you personally? You have previously admitted direct fault for Ultron's creation in the week after Sokovia, haven’t you?"

Hnpf. Tony hates soundbite-interviewers. They are endlessly dull.

Tony has been in the limelight ever since his birth. Phrasing his answers in a way that won't give anyone a chance to use parts of his sentences as soundbites out of context is second nature for him.

So, he just nods magnanimously and says, "Well, almost. I carry a large part of the _responsibility_ for the program’s creation. However, the court determined that I was not actually at _fault_ for Ultron's actions due to extenuating circumstances."

He can see, her frustration at his answer. _Come on, honey, take the bait_.

"Why the emphasis on responsibility, not fault?"

_Good girl. Here, have a cookie._

"The responsibility for Ultron's creation lies with several people, me included. We wrote a program with the main directive to protect our planet, however due to outside interference Ultron entirely deviated from this purpose. The program was designed to help organize a worldwide defense in case of another alien invasion. You know, just in case. Thus, the UN concluded that the robot's actual actions were not our fault."

The crowd is now utterly silent.

Tony knows that so far he hasn't made his thoughts on the likelihood of another, _bigger_ invasion at all clear to the public in the past. He doesn't intend to do so now, either.

He is neither going to tell the general public about the fleet of spaceships on the other side of the portal nor about his reasons for suddenly feeling like he _had_ to design Ultron. He would very much like to avoid starting a mass panic, thank you very much.

However, he will at least remind the people as a whole that there _is_ in fact a potential threat. That they _have_ made extraterrestrial contact. And that not all life in space is friendly.

Fury really dropped the ball on this one. Insight was a cute attempt, but really, _three_ helicarriers? Tony still doesn’t get SHIELD’s conviction about how those three helicarriers would have helped them protect their _entire_ fucking planet.

So, they would have had the Avengers – an _American_ superhero team – plus three self-sufficient helicarriers. That’s _four_ cities they could have protected at once. _Yay?_ It was a start but they still had nothing to defend from a large-scale attack and they would still have been fucked if the next alien invasion wasn’t conveniently restricted to four sites of attacks.

It really would have been helpful if Fury had been willing to jump over his own shadow and share some information with the rest of the world.

Thankfully, Rhodey's meetings with various Generals have generated quite a bit of interest at this point. The US armed forces – _all_ of them, including army, navy _and_ airforce - have actually started a sort of think tank about how to defend at least _their_ entire country from an unknown threat from outer space, if not the entire planet. And they are actually coming up with some decent ideas.

_Thank the fucking gods._

Although, regrettably this is also eating up most of Rhodey’s time currently.

Because his platypus has a unique perspective as a military man, who is also a genius and who has a comparatively close relationship with some of America’s superheroes. And his friendship with Tony is definitely another reason, because the military – unlike the politicians - understood long ago that Tony _trusts_ Rhodey. And that he trusts him for a _reason_.

The military actually tries to avoid forcing Rhodey into a position where he would have to choose between his loyalty to his country or to his best friend. They probably realized that the odds aren’t necessarily in their favor in that scenario.

Not to even mention that trying to _manipulate_ or _force_ Tony into helping their country is a ridiculous activity anyways, seeing as Tony has spent his entire _life_ doing just _that_. With enthusiasm.

It’s mostly politicians who like to play those games. There sure are a lot of idiots in politics.

But point is, that his Rhodey bear now spends most of his time arguing with other nerds in the military about how to best protect their country and whether their ideas could be expanded to protect their entire planet if it comes down to it.

Seeing as Tony will most likely be involved in any of their larger world protection projects anyways Rhodey has even officially been given permission to discuss any of their more developed ideas with Tony.

Some of those ideas are so insane they could have come from Tony himself. In one of his three day inventing hazes. Let’s just say, there are some definite space nerds in the airforce.

However, there are some feasible ideas being thrown around as well. Such as sending dense arrays of detection probes into space as an early warning system. Or giant force fields either to contain an invasion to a single site or to protect entire cities if need be.

Tony is fully behind either of those, especially the force field idea.

But of course, because there are politics involved, the implementation of those ideas is now being hindered by some asshats in DC. Because a threat that might wipe out the human race is apparently not enough reason to divert some funding in the military's direction.

Which is endlessly pissing Tony off. So, he is doing something about it.

 _That_ is his main goal for this interview today. Nothing wrong with lending the military a hand at gathering funding. And there are definite benefits to being easily the most famous person in their country.

Just watch him work his magic.

The host looks completely thrown at his sudden mention of aliens.

"You are referring to another attack like the one in NYC?" She asks slightly wide-eyed, clearly  not having expected this turn.

"Hm, regrettably so. As much as I would like to think otherwise, it just makes sense to assume that if some creepy crawlies from space can try to invade us once, they might try again at some point. And it would be best if we were a little better prepared than last time."

There. That will put some pressure on the assclowns in DC. If their voters start calling them about protecting their country from alien invasions, Congress will promptly discover the leeway in their budget to finance the military's ideas.

Tony has already been slipping these mentions of possible alien attacks into all of his recent interviews. Much to the delight of the military bigwigs. During the last meeting in DC, General Morey - one of Rhodey's personal favorites - actually _winked_ at Tony when the budget was mentioned. That old bat is getting crazier with every decade added on to his service.

But at least his plan to mobilize the public in order to pressure DC into financing planetary defense seems to be working. _Whoop-dee-fucking-doo!_

The host, however, clearly hasn't picked up at all on what Tony is doing. "But what about the Avengers? Didn't they easily defend New York last time?"

Again with the soundbites.

"Which is why what we were trying to build on with the Ultron program. Last time, we were lucky to learn of the invasion before it really got started and we were then able to contain it to a minimal area. The Ultron program was intended as an early warning system as well as a way to quickly organize forces anywhere in the world in case of another, similar threat."

"So, the Avengers would defend us again as they did last time?"

Well, at least she is somewhat persistent. But there is no way he is going to start a mass panic by discussing why the Avengers simply aren't _enough_ to defend their planet.

Time for a change of topic.

"Of course, the Avengers as well as Iron Man will always do their best to protect as many people as we possibly can but we should be better prepared if only because there might be more than one site of attack next time."

Let's see whether...

"Why do you keep mentioning the Avengers separately from yourself or Iron Man? A while back you gave a statement about retiring, but surely Iron Man is still _part_ of the Avengers?" The host promptly asks.

_Thanks for playing._

"Iron Man has indeed retired from the Avengers. I am now no longer part of the team."

The crowd murmurs and there is honest horror in the host's eyes at his statement.

"But surely your retirement from the team is only temporary?"

Well, so far Tony has kept his separation from the team pretty quiet. He gave an official statement about his retirement of course and there was some initial outcry after the announcement, but after a while the public had seemingly decided to simply ignore it. Probably in the hopes, it might go away.

And Tony hadn't done anything to hinder their head-in-the-sand handling of the news.

Now, however, as the deal with the DIA is coming to a close, it is time to remind the public of Iron Man's separation from the Avengers again.

Because in no way does Tony want the public to think that he left the Avengers in order to _avoid_ being under the government's purview. That is actually the _last_ thing he wants. It would hinder the work he is doing on the Accords significantly.

Tony affects a tired smile - not that he has to pretend much, the bags under his eyes see to that.

"The Avengers team was originally assembled to fight the never seen before threat of an alien invasion in New York City. At that point, we were the first and also last line of defense. However now, the Avengers are well established. The team works well together," - no, it really _really_ doesn't - "and there are several new recruits bolstering the ranks. Iron Man himself isn't needed for every single mission anymore."

She is looking almost offended now and there are even some exclamations from the crowd. Tony sometimes forgets that New Yorkers have claimed Iron Man as _theirs_ and get rather pissy if anyone says otherwise.

Before she can go off on some tangent, Tony continues.

"That isn't to say that I stopped being Iron Man. I am happy to work with our various agencies, be it the Avengers to help on specific missions or the Fire Department to get a cat out of a particularly high tree. I _am_ Iron Man. And that will not change. However, right now, there are other things that desperately need to be worked on and which I simply haven't had the time for due to my Avengers' duty."

The host looks somewhat placated again and the audience has finally stopped murmuring.

"What kinds of things?"

Dear god, this interview is predictable.

Still, Tony lets none of his boredom show on his face as he begins explaining SI's forays into clean energy, his clean-up and rebuilding projects in cities affected by the Avengers' various missions, his collaboration with the armed forces, the UN's project for clean water, for planetary defense and so on and so on.

Hey, why waste free press if it is offered so readily.

Waste not want not, and all that.

Pepper will be delighted.

 

* * *

 

"M- Mr. Stark?"

Tony has been waiting for the Spiderling to finally call him after their rooftop meeting a few days ago. Somewhat disappointingly, the kid is still wearing his mask.

But Tony still grins at the screen. "I told you to call me Tony, kid."

"R- right, _Tony_. Wasn't quite sure that part wasn't a hallucination. Sorry... Hi Tony!" The Spiderling babbles into the phone.

"Hi kid!" Tony cheerfully greets back.

"I- Mr. Stark, I mean Tony, I wanted to ask... Or rather, I meant... Did you-" The stuttering tapers off, as the kid is clearly lost for words.

Tony just waits him out. He knows all too well what it is like when genius and enthusiasm and insecurity mix to the point of tying your tongue into knots.

Finally, the kid almost whispers. "You _know_?"

"Of course I do." Tony replies easily as he continues realigning some of the delicate wiring in the suit's left glove.

"But _how_?"

"I'm Tony Stark. I know things. And if I don't, I figure them out." He throws a charming smirk at the camera.

There is silence on the other end. Clearly, the Spiderling is at a loss of how to proceed. He has obviously realized that Tony knows about his identity - why else would he have set up the kid's phone to read 'Hi Peter!' on the welcome screen - but still unsure whether to actually admit to anything.

And the last thing Tony wants is to put even more pressure on the kid. No, he just wants the Spiderling to know he can rely on Tony.

Tony isn’t so arrogant to think that he has enough influence over a teenager he just met to talk him out of being a superhero right away. But as far as FRIDAY could figure out, the kid also doesn’t have anyone _else_ to contact amongst superhumans.

Which Tony _cannot_ let stand.

Because at some point the Spiderling is going to run into something he _can’t_ handle on his own and then Tony wants the kid to have someone to call. If that someone has to be Iron Man, well, then so be it.

So, he finally puts down his tools and turns to give the kid his full attention.

“Why don’t you come by the tower at some point so we can talk? I would love to hear about the netting you use. The tensile strength of that stuff is off the charts. Who manufactured that?”

“I- I did.”

“Now, that makes it even more interesting.” Tony grins. “Just stop by whenever. Although, better you call first and FRIDAY will let you know in case I’m not available. Seriously, I feel like I’m spending all my time in meetings these days...”

“Friday?” The kid sounds more than confused.

“My AI. Say hi, baby girl.”

“Hello.” FRIDAY greets promptly.

“H- Hi?” That apparently didn’t help with the kid’s confusion any.

“Just call me and if I’m not available, FRIDAY will answer for me and let you know when I’ll be back at the tower.”

“Alright.” The Spiderling still sounds hesitant.

Tony tries to reassure him. “Really, kid. Just call anytime. I mean it. No holding back, okay?”

“Okay.” At least he is starting to sound less hesitant now. “Um, Mr. Stark? I mean Tony?”

Tony snorts in amusement. “Yeah, kid.”

“I, um, I’m kinda... already here?”

Tony raises his eyebrows and the kid obligingly turns his phone to show Tony his own tower from the outside. The kid is apparently sitting on the roof of one of the neighboring buildings.

Tony blinks at the screen and then he promptly snorts a laugh. “Really, Spiderling. Next time lead with _that_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m currently considering whether to give this story a pairing or not and because you guys have been so awesome, I decided to just leave it up to you :) So, do you prefer this story to have a pairing or not? And if you do, which one?
> 
> Notes: No Team Cap (just no), no Tony/Rhodey (‘cause friendship is forever!), no threesomes (because I don’t think I’ll be any good at writing that) and the only non-slash pairing I can at least vaguely imagine is Tony/Pepper (if there is overwhelming agreement on that). Hm, other than that I like most pairings I've stumbled across, including Tony/Strange, Tony/Quill, Tony/Bucky, Tony/Wayne, Tony/Logan, Tony/Loki and Tony/Thor (usually also Tony/T’Challa but I feel it doesn’t really fit this story). Also, I’m definitely open to other pairings if you have any ideas and I can just as well write this without pairings.
> 
> So, let me know!
> 
> As always, thanks for all your comments and kudos!


	8. Channels of intervention

The Spiderling's speechless awe is adorable.

At the kid's announcement that he was in fact already _at_ the tower, Tony had immediately made his way upstairs to let the kid in via the landing platform.

And despite the fact that the Spiderling is still in full costume, Tony can still practically see the dropped jaw and wide eyes as the kid continues to gawk around his penthouse.

"Something to drink, kid?" Tony asks as he makes his way over to the bar.

"Huh? Oh, yes please." The kid spins around to face him. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble?"

Tony just raises his eyebrows in amusement and points at the fridge he is already holding open.

"Oh. Then. Water? Thank y- I mean, please?" The Spiderling clears his throat. "Water, please?"

"Water it is." Tony says amusedly.

By the time he has prepared two glasses of water - with ice cubes and a little bit of lime, he is not a _heathen_ , thank you very much - the Spiderling has already scrambled his way over and is now practically vibrating in place next to the bar.

Handing the kid his water, Tony settles in one of the bar stools and gestures for the kid to do the same.

The Spiderling is seated next to him before Tony even finishes the gesture, holding on to his water glass as though it were earth's greatest treasure.

"Th- Thank you. For the water. And for letting me come visit." A pause and then the words the kid has been so very clearly holding in ever since he walked through the door come bubbling forth.

"This is so cool! I'm in Stark Tower! With Tony Stark! In his house! I mean apartment. I mean pent house? It's just so cool and you can see like the entire city from here, I can probably see _my_ place from here and I'm here with _Tony Stark_. And you told me to call you _Tony_. Which I will _remember_ from now on. Because it's the coolest thing ever! And I have wanted to see Stark Tower forever but I thought it would be weird if I just came by as Spiderman and even weirder if I came as _me_."

And apparently the kid doesn't even have to breathe while he babbles on.

"And then there is also the Avengers Compound and I wasn't sure whether you might be living there now. But then I saw your interview and you said you weren't part of the Avengers anymore. And why aren't you an Avenger anymore? I mean, not that you owe me an explanation! I just have so many questions, like about the arc reactor technology powering the tower, which is completely green energy, right? Which is so cool! I've _always_ wondered how it works and I just really wanted to meet you. So I could ask and also because you are _Tony Stark_ , you know? And then you gave me a phone and then I called you and sorry that it took so long for me to call, but you were like 'just come by whenever' and I was already here and this is just so cool, because Tony Stark invited me to come to his tower. And now I'm here!"

Good lord, that's a lot of enthusiasm! And Tony really thinks the kid might have gotten it all out in one breath. Which is honestly impressive.

 _It's a superpower all on its own_ , Tony thinks amusedly.

The Spiderling is practically bouncing in his seat with excitement, gesticulating wildly with the water Tony just gave him. Impressively, none of it sloshes out.

Tony just gives him one of his half-smirks.

"Still excitable, I see."

The kid deflates almost comically. "Yeah, oh, sorry. I don't mean to talk so much."

And he is clearly doing his best to just hold still. He succeeds for all of three seconds.

"But when I get excited there is just so _much_. And then I start talking but sometimes forget what I was talking about because I get distracted and then I just continue going on about something entirely unrelated and people don't understand me because I switch topics too much and then I have to repeat myself but I get distracted again and then people get annoyed."

And Tony knows exactly what the kid means.

"Yeah, it's the crux of always being the smartest person in the room. But feel free to chatter away. I'll keep up." He comments lazily.

It's unexpected but somehow the Spiderling's excitement and apparently boundless energy strangely seems to actually calm Tony down in a way. As though having someone _else_ bounce around - physically _and_ mentally - makes it unnecessary for Tony to be the one driving the conversation forward - just so his brain won't shrivel up in boredom - for once.

He is certainly not going to get bored that easily with the kid bouncing around.

Who just stares at him for a second before bursting out, "I'm not that smart!"

Tony just raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Yeah, you are. Trust me, kid. I've been around genius my entire life, I know it when I see it."

The kid is clearly well into the realm of genius not only based on the way his brain works or the speed of his thought processes, but also according to his academic achievements. Which Tony might have coincidently asked FRIDAY to pull up for him at some point.

But Tony is also getting the feeling that the kid doesn't really see much in himself _beyond_ being a superhero - his inflection earlier when talking about coming by the tower as Spiderman or _himself_ is like a big flashing warning sign.

Which is not a good thing. Solely defining yourself by being a superhero is actually everything _but_ a good idea.

You should be a superhero _because_ of who you are, not the other way around.

And the kid deserves to feel the pride of knowing that even when he goes out as Spiderman it is because of _him_ that something good happened or something bad was prevented, not because of his colorful alter ego.

So, new project. Make the Spiderling see that it's neither the suit nor his powers that make him a hero, that Peter Parker is _everything_ Spiderman is and more, with or without the suit. And boy, doesn't that phrase sound familiar.

At Tony's previous comment, the Spiderling just shakes his head, clearly bashful. "Well, I might be a little better at school than most people but that's only because I have already read through all the textbooks for this year and senior year and some of the college books for that one Materials Science course when I was trying to figure out my netting, oh and that one course on Physical Chemistry at Northwestern was _really_ interesting and I only found the lectures online by accident and that was so _interesting_ and the professor is a Nobel Price winner, how cool is that?!"

The enthusiasm is definitely back at full force. Tony is getting the feeling that it would take quite a bit of effort to bring down the Spiderling's mood for any amount of time.

And as the kid babbles on about the college courses he has stumbled across - clearly having forgotten that he is supposedly trying to tell Tony how he _isn't_ a genius - Tony resolves to do his best to protect this pure hearted enthusiasm for all things life and learning as best he can.

Because Tony remembers that time of his own life. Remembers what it was like to be interested in _everything_ , to want to learn everything in every single field of study, when everything seemed _fascinating_. When he had not yet picked a particular field to focus on.

And he also remembers how frustrating it had been to always have to slow down for _everyone_ around him simply because no one could understand his babbling and lightning quick changes of topic. Remembers how offended his professors had gotten when he started meshing discoveries and principles from separate fields, completely irreverent of 'established' practices. When he debunked theories in chemistry by applying established principles of quantum mechanics. Or used complex decade-old mathematics from some unknown Russian guy to tear apart supposed revolutionary discoveries in physics.

Thinking outside the box is a state of being for Tony and he has always loved combining different fields to come up with entirely new things to learn. It was the reason why he had finally decided to focus primarily on one of the more interdisciplinary fields, electrical engineering.

But these days, people tend to _only_ remember Tony's accomplishments in engineering and programming. They like to ignore that he not only holds three PhDs but also a truly absurd number of Master degrees in completely unrelated fields.

And that's without even mentioning all the subjects he has simply read up on in the years after. Tony is constantly educating himself about new things, things he wants to know, to learn, to study. People don't like to hear him so much allude to his genius but Tony doesn't get into entirely new fields of study because he wants to show up others, but simply because he _needs_ to gather new knowledge. _Constantly_.

He would die of boredom if he had nothing to keep his brain busy with.

But it still took him years to realize that most people _didn't_ in fact enjoy being shown up by a fresh-faced kid who had surpassed them in their chosen field within 24 hours of deciding to start reading up on it.

And his unconventional approach of mixing sciences had especially not gained him any favors at MIT, because people who consider themselves smart apparently get quite offended when someone clearly _smarter_ comes along.

And by the time any of them could finally bring themselves to actually have a real scientific debate with Tony, he more often than not had long since left their particular field behind, having already switched to an entirely unrelated area of interest. Only to repeat the process. It had driven every single science-minded person at MIT who came in contact with him insane. Tony had probably been the most disliked person in MIT's history.

That isn't to say that his fellow students and the professors hadn't used Tony's revelations in order to further their own standing in the scientific community. Of course without ever mentioning where their oh-so-revolutionary ideas had come from.

His enthusiasm for all things science had blinded him to the fact that not everyone thought the entire goal was to _learn_ , that humans - and even scientists - are truly selfish at heart.

Tony had started hating college then. To be constantly put down by the people around him, only to find out later that they had then used his ideas to get published in scientific journals, taking all credit and not giving Tony the opportunity to join them in arguing their - or rather _his_ \- case with others. He had learned quickly to either keep his ideas to himself or to immediately smack a patent on it or to get it published before anyone else could. Once he started churning out scientific publications, Tony had suddenly and completely 'coincidentally' become very popular with his fellow scientists.

Their sudden 'change of heart' had only made Tony despise them even more.

But thankfully, that was also the time of his life when he had met his Rhodey bear. Rhodey who was more than willing to listen to Tony talk, who tried to keep up with him but didn't get offended when he couldn't. Who was _interested_ in Tony's babbling and even in Tony _himself_.

Rhodey who had made everything _better_.

It had been an incredible release to finally have someone he could talk _to_ and talk _at_. About his private life, his courses, his professors, his own inventions and discoveries and ideas.

Yeah, he more than gets the Spiderling's enthusiasm right now.

So, Tony just leans his chin in his hand, elbow propped on the counter. And then he just listens to the Spiderling talk.

It's easy for him to follow the three lines of conversations - about a college course on physical chemistry, about how much gym class sucks and about the criminal he hand-delivered to the NYPD yesterday - that the kid is having with him at once.

And the longer Tony listens - adequately reacting to everything the kid says - the more speed the Spiderling's chatter seems to gain.

His relief at being able to simply _talk_ \- without having to slow down his thought processes, without having to frustratingly explain every single damn conclusion his brain draws during a conversation just so his audience can keep up - is more than apparent.

And in the middle of his explanation of how to best find ongoing crimes in NYC without trying to be everywhere at once, the kid tries to take a drink from the glass in his hand, clearly having forgotten about still wearing his mask. Because the water almost ends up in his lap.

"Oh, oh. I- I forgot about the mask. I mean-" The kid is stuttering.

Tony gives a half-smirk. "No worries, kid. But how in the world do you normally drink or eat in that outfit? It looks entirely impractical. Do you drink through a straw? I should have some of those around here somewhere..."

"No! I mean- I- the mask-... I-it's not that I don't trust you. Really! I _know_ you know, but I'm so _used_ to wearing the mask, you know."

The kid is honestly trying to _reassure_ Tony. Good lord, he is just precious.

Tony grins, "You are actually doing a really good job at hiding your identity. FRIDAY even had to run some probabilities in order to pick you out."

"But how did you find out?! I am really careful. Like really _really_ careful!"

"Oh, you definitely are. There are no videos of you coming out of the same alley that Spiderman just dropped into or vice versa. But, well, it was just a question of finding enough videos of Spiderman sightings and then analyzing who appears within a certain radius immediately before or after. Some facial recognition and going through the endless video material out there and FRIDAY quickly narrowed it down. And then it was just a question of comparing height, weight, general body shape, movement, et cetera. "

The Spiderling seems speechless for a moment.

"That's it?!" He asks baffled. "You just figured it out despite me never being caught on camera anywhere near Spiderman's first or last sighting?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And once FRIDAY was reasonably certain it was you, she looked up a video of you at school and another one of you arguing with a criminal in a parking garage, compared the voices and speech patterns, and voila." Tony pauses. "You _really_ need a decent voice modulator in your suit, kid."

"B- b- but, how am I supposed to protect myself against that?! I can't avoid _any_ of that!" The kid throws up his hands. 

Tony can see how much he is affected by having been found out despite being incredibly careful.

So, he turns fully toward the kid to show his seriousness as he replies, "Honestly, don't worry about it. Your voice being used as an identifier is easily solved. I already built you a voice modulator to be worn in the suit, so that's that taken care of. Next, FRIDAY diligently messed up any sort of evidence she came across or used to identify you herself, so it will be much harder for anyone to find you the same way she did. Which she has also continued to do with any new videos that have shown up since. So, that avenue is mostly closed. And lastly, while it may have been easy for FRIDAY to hack into the necessary databases, dig up all relevant video evidence and run those probabilities, it's not like a lot of people have those resources. FRIDAY's capabilities are _exceptional_."

"Thanks, boss." FRIDAY's chimes delightedly.

"You're welcome, baby girl." Tony grins at one of her cameras.

There is a pause.

"That's so neat! An actual AI!" The kid bursts out. "Hi, Ms. FRIDAY!"

"Hello, Mr. Parker."

And the kid promptly freezes in place.

So far, Tony has done his best to avoid actually calling the kid by his real name and they haven't yet acknowledged the Spiderling's real identity beyond their rather abstract conversation just now.

Clearly, the kid is still shocked by hearing his name while wearing his disguise, despite having known that Tony is in fact aware of his identity.

And the last thing he wants is to freak out the kid. "Ah, sorry about that. FRIDAY is still working on trying to figure out subtlety."

"I am sorry, Mr. Parker. I did not intend to make you uncomfortable." FRIDAY immediately apologizes. But Tony can hear the confusion in her voice as to what she might have actually done. His baby girl is learning by leaps and bounds but she still struggles with some of the more abstract aspects of human interaction such as sarcasm and subtlety. She sees no actual purpose in either.

"N- no, it's fine." The Spiderling stutters out. "D- don't worry, Ms. FRIDAY. And t-thanks for helping me by messing with the evidence on the web."

"You are most welcome, Mr. Parker." There is still some confusion in her voice, but FRIDAY is also clearly happy at being thanked for her efforts. "If you are amenable, I will continue to do so with any new material that may appear."

"Thanks, t-that would be great." The kid responds.

There is a rather awkward pause.

Tony just waits the kid out, letting him figure out how to proceed in his own time.

Finally, the kid sighs, reaches up and pulls off his mask. The newly unmasked Spiderling ducks his head bashfully but still stares at Tony with big, expectant eyes.

And god, Tony just wants to wrap the kid in cotton and bubblewrap - as unpractical as that may be - to keep him safe from any harm that might come his way.

Instead Tony just smiles and greets, "Hey there, Peter. It's great to meet you."

The kid's bashful smile is truly heartwarming.

 

* * *

 

Tony gives his phone an accusing look. It continues ringing entirely undeterred by his disapproval.

Tony _just_ got back to his tower, having spent the entire damn day at SI with Pepper in a video conference with DC to finalize the deal with the DIA. And they are finally _done_. The deal is complete, every point argued and finalized and everyone is even mostly happy with its content. Now, the horde of lawyers took the documents to do final independent checks and tomorrow all relevant parties are going to meet in DC to sign it. Fucking _finally_.

Well, unless someone finds fault with the document until then, of course.

Which brings Tony back to his still ringing phone. Because it's the great Captain who is currently calling him.

Ever since his retirement Tony has barely had any contact with the Avengers.

The team's only attempts at contact have been made through SI for things like weapon updates or new gear. Apparently, none of them felt the need to stay in contact with him on a personal level.

And despite having been the one to cut himself off from the team, something in Tony still aches at this proof of how little they had truly wanted him around or seem to miss his presence.

Although, after having been rebuffed so effectively in the weeks immediately after Ultron, Tony himself hasn't been much better about keeping in contact. But at least he _has_ been sending emails to keep the team updated about the many changes he is currently brokering for the team.

However, Tony's emails have garnered nothing beyond, an infrequent reply of 'everything is fine, thanks for asking'.

So now, he really _doesn't_ want to answer his phone because he is afraid Steve is calling for the simple reason of declaring his dissatisfaction with the plan to reintegrate the Avengers into the US government. It would be just typical for the team to ignore him for weeks but to promptly start complaining barely _hours_ before Tony is going to finally sign the deal, perfectly timed so that Tony has already invested the maximal amount of time trying to come up with a decent compromise to keep everyone happy before voicing their complaints.

Tony's phone is still ringing, entirely undisturbed by his rather frustrated thoughts.

This is already Cap's third attempt to call him. The first had been while he had still been in the video conference with DC and the second on his way back to the tower while Tony had been on the phone with Murdock.

Which definitely took precedence, because Murdock and Nelson have found some rather disturbing clauses buried in some of the more recently proposed amendments to the US Accords.

The clauses are rather cleverly phrased to play off each other and seem to have been specifically designed with mutants in mind. Or more specifically, their offspring.

Murdock had paraphrased that it all boiled down to the argument of mutant parents knowingly taking the risk of their child also being mutants and therefore possibly having dangerous powers - dangerous to themselves or others - which could be classed as preempted endangerment of said child and thus the mutant parents would immediately be declared unfit to care for their child.

Thus, the government would gain immediate guardianship over any and all children from mutant parents. From the moment of their birth. Whether their parents are in the room or not.

It's truly abhorrent and so far the worst thing to be proposed for inclusion into the Accords.

And Tony _has_ to fix it. _Somehow_. He knows this will haunt him until he does.

Thankfully, these clauses have so far only been proposed for the US Accords, so there is still hope this will ultimately not make it through on an international scale.

But still, Tony really needs to get in contact with someone on the mutant side of things, because arguing on their behalf will be much easier if he has support from at least some of them.

In order to actually be able to use the superhuman community's collective voice as an effective factor for changing the Accords, Tony _desperately_ needs more support for when the Accords become finally official, for when they can actually start officially arguing against some of the proposed amendments.

Tony just hasn't had as much time to contact the various superhuman groups as he had hoped. He already has so damn much on his plate right now. So, he _really_ wants to get this DIA deal done, because not having to take care of the Avengers at all anymore will free up a _lot_ of his time. Time which he could really _really_ use for other things.

Which brings him back to Cap, who had already left a message with FRIDAY during his first call that there was nothing urgent, he just wanted to _talk_ to Tony.

_Yeah, right._

The team hasn't wanted to talk to him for weeks and it's a bit too much of a coincidence for them to be calling a day before the DIA deal is supposed to be getting signed.

But Tony can't really ignore the call either. Because if the team really _has_ something to say about it then he needs to know it right _now_ , so that he can let his lawyers know. And so he can do some damage control with the DIA bigwigs and other government officials. Including the President, _goddammit_.

Nothing for it then.

Tony takes a deep breath, before giving FRIDAY the signal to pick up the call.

"Hey Cap!" He greets somewhat cheerfully.

"Tony!" Steve sounds surprised.

Tony responds humorously."Yes, it is indeed _I_ , who has answered my phone."

"Tony." Now there is obvious reprimand in the Captain's voice.

"Yep. Indeed." Hey, Tony is tired. He has it on good authority that he is utterly exasperating when tired.

Steve's scolding tone doesn't help his mood any either. "I've been trying to reach you, Tony."

"Cap, Captain, my dear star-spangled Capsicle. FRIDAY took your message and I got back to you as soon as I was free. Depressingly, my meetings don't go any faster just because the endless number of missed calls on my phone. But god, do I _wish_ they would. It would make my life much easier, let me tell you."

"Tony." He can practically see Steve pinching his nose in exasperation.

"Again with the name, Cap." Tony says distractedly as the lights flicker in a signal from FRIDAY and Tony turns around to see his Rhodey bear standing in the door to the workshop. Tony gives a cheerful wave and mimes throwing a kiss at his platypus.

Who promptly ducks out of its trajectory.

Hnpf. How ungrateful.

“Tony.” Steve reprimands again.

“Still here.” He replies absently, watching Rhodey make his way over to him. His platypus grabs a chair and unceremoniously nudges Tony out of his way so he can reach the terminal. Only to promptly check on any progress Tony has made with JARVIS in the few days Rhodey has been gone.

God, he loves his honey bear.

Thankfully, they are not in a video call, so Cap cannot actually see Rhodey joining them.

Instead the good Captain chooses to utter the universally feared phrase of, "Tony, we need to talk."

Tony is already bracing himself for all the criticism on the DIA deal, all the flaws the team found, which are all going to be _Tony’s_ fault, despite him having given the them ample opportunity to voice their opinions beforehand.

 “Yeah, FRIDAY informed me you wanted to talk. And it was also rather apparent from your unrelenting calls. So, what’s up, Cap?”

There is an annoyed sigh at the other end of the line as Steve clearly tries to gather his calm, which mysteriously seems to vanish every time he tries to have a serious conversation with Tony. Which is so not Tony’s fault. It's _not_. And he will never admit otherwise.

Finally, Cap sighs and asks, “Why would you just make an announcement like that without talking to us first?”

Which, okay, is a weird way to phrase it but whatever.

“Cap, what are you talking about? You were informed of _everything_ that was going on.”

“No, we weren't, Tony! You never told me you were just going to go on _TV_ and simply make an _announcement_! Like it was _nothing_. I thought you would have at least told us before going on _national television_. The team would have deserved that at _least_! You-“

Huh?

“Whoa, whoa. Hold on a second there, Cap. What in the world are you _talking_ about?”

“What do you think? Your interview on TV! What else would I be talking about?!”

“Well, I thought we were talking about the papers I sent you a few days ago. You know, the endless pages of legal jargon in your inbox. Which I have to say, even _I_ was surprised by the final file size. Talk about laughably overcomplicating a supposedly simple agreement about already existing guidelines. You would think that lawyers would have figured out how to say something _without_ ridiculously overinflating the word count. But who am I to criti-“

“Tony! This isn't about _emails_! I’m talking about your interview!” Steve is clearly starting to lose his patience.

And Tony just wants to sigh in utter relief. So, Steve _isn't_ going to critique the DIA deal. 

Next to him, Rhodey sits back - either having finished checking Tony's work on gathering JARVIS' code or too distracted to continue - and listens to their conversation diligently. Which isn't hard considering that FRIDAY is broadcasting the entire conversation through her speakers.

Tony waggles his eyebrows at Rhodey - for no particular reason - and humorously replies, "Ah, you'll have to be a little more specific. Which interview are we referring to here? I'm starting to lose track. Seriously, I feel like recently I've been doing nothing _but_ answer increasingly intrusive questions from complete strangers."

Tony knows he is being exasperating - knows how much Steve dislikes his flippant way of talking - but after the relief of realizing that the team _isn't_ going to tear apart the DIA deal, his disappointment at Cap not even once thinking to call him until now is back full force. Especially since even this conversation is only happening because Steve apparently wants to reprimand him for something.

"Yesterday's interview! The one with the woman. The one where you talked about retiring from the team!" Steve's voice is getting louder with each word.

"Ah, that one. Didn't much enjoy it to be honest. It was particularly boring. What about it?"

"Tony! Can you please be serious for a moment." Steve demands. "How could you just say that Iron Man is not part of the team anymore?"

Now Tony actually feels a little wrong-footed. What in the world is Steve talking about? Tony has been retired from the team for weeks.

Even Rhodey is frowning heavily now.

"Seriously, Steve, what are you talking about? I retired. Weeks ago. We talked about it. I _know_ we did. You were fine with it and we wished each other the best of luck. I gave an official statement about my retirement from the team to the press _weeks_ ago."

He can hear Steve blow out a frustrated breath on the other end of the line. "I didn't see any statements about it before!" - well of course Steve didn't, that would require for the man to actually listen to the damn news - "And why would you just announce it to _everyone_ without talking to us first? The Avengers are a team!"

Tony throws his hands up in exasperation. "Exactly! _You_ are a team. But I retired. So, what does that have to do with _me_?"

"Iron Man is part of the Avengers!"

And wow, that actually stings. So, Steve is upset about people knowing that _Iron Man_ is no longer part of the team. But not Tony?

His platypus is full on scowling now and jerkily reaches into his pocket, pulling out his own phone.

"Tony!" The Captain barks into the phone when Tony takes more than a second to respond.

Cap is clearly annoyed now.

But so is Tony.

"Look, Steve-"

Then his phone starts ringing _obnoxiously_ and _loudly_ through FRIDAY's speakers.

Tony turns towards Rhodey who is holding his own phone to his ear and just raises his eyebrows at him.

Tony grins. His platypus is awesome.

"Sorry, Cap, gotta take that call. Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about? Like those papers I sent you?"

 _Don't you fucking_ dare _start critiquing the deal now that I'm finally done arguing about it for weeks with what feels like half the population of DC!_

"No, Tony! Nothing _else_. But we need to talk about this! You can't just talk about the team like that to the press-"

Okay, so Cap actually has nothing relevant to say. And Tony really has _better_ things to do than letting himself be reprimanded like a child by a damn 30 year old.

"Yeah, okay, sure. Let's definitely talk. Another time." - _or never_ \- "Gotta go."

FRIDAY promptly hangs up before Steve has so much as a chance to reply and the obnoxious ringing cuts off immediately after.

Rhodey just snorts derisively as he shoves his own phone back into his pocket. "Really, that man doesn't have a single empathetic bone in his body. 'Iron Man is part of the team'. Really!"

And as Rhodey grumbles on about self-entitled bastards, Tony just smirks.

Has he mentioned that his platypus is awesome?

 

* * *

 

Tony only has to listen to the phone ringing once, before someone is already picking up at the other end.

He is promptly greeted with, “Dr. Stark.”

A pause.

“Professor Xavier. That’s quite the trick, greeting people who don't actually have caller ID by name.” Tony comments lazily.

“Ah, there have to be some benefits to one’s particular talents, wouldn’t you say?” The Professor's tone is amused.

Tony can't help his smirk. “Oh, most certainly. I’m a big advocate of using whatever means you are given in life to the best of your abilities.”

A hum. “As long as it benefits those you love, yourself and society without causing harm to others.”

“Hm, at least as much as that is practicable. Change it to _undue_ harm and then I’m fully onboard with your statement.” Tony grins at the phone. This is fun.

“That is certainly a relief when coming from a man in your position.” The Professor remarks.

“Or yours.” Tony returns cheerfully.

“Indeed.” Xavier promptly agrees.

There is a brief rather companionable silence between them.

And now Tony isn't quite certain how to proceed.

He needs to tell Xavier about the Accords but he doesn't want to have this initial discussion on the phone. If only because he can't actually see who else might be listening in on the Professor's side and because he needs to _see_ someone in order to gauge their reactions.

But he also can't just fly to visit the Professor without announcing himself beforehand.

While he usually happily disregards others’ sensibilities about personal space and has had no problems so far just waltzing up to any of New York’s superheroes to talk to them, this is different. Because there are _kids_ involved. And Tony can more than respect the additional precautions someone in Xavier’s position would want to take about who to expose the children under his protection to, or who to expose to them.

But for that very same reason, Xavier urgently needs to be informed about what is brewing in the governments of the world. Because this man is _protecting_ _children_ and for that reason alone, Tony will give him any and every sort of advantage for the upcoming conflict he can manage.

Xavier is also one of the people, Tony _really_ wants in his corner on the Accords issue. The Professor is easily the most prominent figure in the mutant community and his opinion will sway the perception of a lot of people, be they mutants, other superhumans or even just normal citizens.

But since he is dealing with an empath here, it might be best to simply be as honest as he _can_ be in this situation.

Thus, Tony just says straightforward, “I have something to discuss with you.”

“I reckoned you might.” The Professor suddenly sounds much more serious than before.

“It is, however, rather sensitive in nature.” Tony remarks leadingly.

A brief pause follows and Tony has no idea what Xavier is gleaning from him.

But finally the Professor replies, “You are welcome to visit our school if you would prefer a discussion in person. We would be happy to have you.”

Tony blows out a breath. Dear god, what a relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm, weirdly not that much progress in this chapter... But at least Cap's first appearance! This is kind of the trial run for how I'm going to write Cap and the team. What did you think? I hope he didn't turn out too sullen-teenagerish (it's surprisingly hard to write someone unreasonable in a serious conversation without resorting to some sort of humor...)
> 
> And you guys are awesome! So many comments (°o°) So, the results of the vote: Almost half of you asked for no pairing (at least at this point of the story), next in line was Tony/Strange and finally the four pairings with Loki, Bucky, Logan or Pepper got almost the same number of votes.  
> So, for now I’m going to write this without pairings. If this fic actually makes it past the Accords all the way to Infinity War, then I might revisit the topic. I hope this result isn’t too frustrating for anyone who threw their hat in with a particular pairing (._.)
> 
> Also, I know nothing at all about the US legal system or even English legal terms in general. I'm just winging it at this point, so if anyone has any pointers on that, please let me know! It would be really helpful, because the amount of legal talk is only going to increase from here on out XD
> 
> Thanks again to everyone who commented!


	9. Launching intervention

It's their usual Saturday night dinner and the four of them are currently sprawled across the couches in Tony's penthouse.

They are having a party.

Well, not so much a _party_ but rather Pepper bringing a bottle of champagne to celebrate the fact that the Avengers are now an official subdivision of the DIA. Because the deal is finally _done_.

And Tony had just given a deep sigh of relief once everything was signed and stamped and filed.

Which is apparently nothing compared to his friends' satisfaction, who are now literally _celebrating_ the fact that Tony will not be directly involved with the Avengers anymore.

His platypus had clearly been thinking along the same lines as Pepper, because Rhodey turned up bearing actual party hats and paper streamers. Not to be outdone, Tony had promptly gone digging through his stash of party paraphernalia, which is the reason for his penthouse currently being covered in various banners and colorful balloons proclaiming everything from 'Happy birthday!' and 'Congrats, it's a boy!' to 'Bon Voyage!' and 'Happy Nuptials!'.

Even Tony has no idea where all this stuff came from, but he is all for the impromptu party. And Happy had a blast putting everything up that Tony dug up from the various boxes stashed in his metaphorical attic.

But back to the four of them in sequined party hats - and in Tony's case numerous colorful paper streamers wrapped around his shoulders to match Rhodey's magenta feather boa - and making their way through a veritable mountain of Thai takeout as they discuss the DIA deal and its implications for Tony.

Tony has been enthusiastically rambling about all the projects he can finally get done, now that he has so much more time on his hands, "I mean, just the amount of time I will be saving only from not having to filter local, national and international intel anymore. It will literally free up entire _days_ in my schedule! There is so much I can get _done_ now."

Across from him, Pepper nods cheerfully - the glint in her eyes tells Tony that she already has plans for some of his freed up time - as she says, "Oh, definitely. The R&D department has already been feeling the difference ever since you retired from active Avengers missions and started showing up semi-regularly. I've had more proposals and finished projects on my desk in the past few weeks than I usually get within months. Your complete retirement from the team should send the entire department into a tizzy of enthusiasm at the thought of you visiting even more often."

Happy chimes in humorously, "Yeah. Once R&D realized that Tony's visits would be more frequent from now on, they immediately started fighting over who would be next in line to show him their projects. Nolte and Ramirez finally had to come up with an actual proposal system, where everyone has to submit a synopsis of their project for evaluation and give a presentation to the entire department, before there is an actual _vote_ on who gets the first and only guaranteed shot at talking to Tony during his next visit."

"You mean, the only guaranteed shot before Tones inevitably gets distracted by something random he sees in R&D and then it's a simple free-for-all of trying to catch his attention as Tones bounces from terminal to terminal and the entire department follows him around like little lost, lab-coated ducklings." Rhodey grins.

"Exactly." Happy chortles.

Tony pretends to pout at that depiction. Even though admittedly, it's entirely accurate.

He loves his visits to R&D just as much as R&D loves to have him visit. It's the only time Tony ever gets to just throw around ideas and fiddle with tech that he didn't design himself and hear new ideas that sometimes manage to surprise him and start arguments with fellow engineers and be fascinated by results from his researchers and listen to his scientists describe who else he should hire because they are the definite best in their field and _wouldn't it be great if that person could join them?_

SI's R&D, _that_ is Tony's true candyland.

And he missed out on it for far too long, designing weapons and gear for a team that didn't appreciate it, isolating himself from his own company because he had _sworn_ to never again let SI manufacture even a single weapon.

Tony can't even pinpoint how he went from refusing to make _any_ weapons to _constantly_ working on weapon upgrades for SHIELD. It had been a creeping development and it's honestly a little disturbing how he didn't even notice anything while it was going on.

In the beginning of the Avengers, Tony had stuck to his resolution to never again make another weapon. But then Fury asked for better armor for his agents and Tony had of course been all too willing to help with _that_.

But then someone had gotten hurt despite the new armor and Tony had felt responsible, so he had started including defensive measures in their armor. Just a hidden pocket for a metal-free, polycarbonate knife here, a stun-gun armband there. And then someone else had gotten hurt despite those measures and the guilt had eaten him alive, so he had tweaked it some more. Only to be inevitably faced with another injury.

It had just continued to escalate like that.

There were the grappling hook arrows for Clint, which were _technically_ a weapon but supposed to be a safety measure - in case bird brain managed to fall off a building again - and then Natashalie had gotten hurt because her widow bites simply hadn't been strong enough to take out her opponent that one time, so obviously Tony fiddled with them and turned up the voltage range. A slight improvement here, an adjustment there and suddenly he had regularly been making exploding arrows for Legolas, knives for the agents, guns for the spider and that was it. He had been back.

Well, he is sure there had probably been some subtle - or in hindsight even not-so-subtle - nudging from Fury and Natashalie to get him to that point. But Tony had been entirely blind to the manipulations back then. Because it was for his _team_. And surely they cared about him enough not to purposefully manipulate him to go against his own convictions.

Yet another lesson learned. Manipulative superspies and deceitful spiders are not to be trusted, whether you are on the same side or not. _Who would have thought?_

Tony _had_ remained absolutely firm on none of it so much as _touching_ SI.

But as a consequence he had almost completely disappeared from R&D - he had barely had the time to talk to his best friend on the _phone_ , much less to visit his company to nerd out with his fellow scientists - and started almost exclusively working from his own workshop.

And apparently his visits had been missed just as much as Tony had missed visiting, as signified by the obvious enthusiasm of the entire department, scrambling to get this attention whenever he so much as steps foot inside R&D. Tony could honestly set up camp there for _weeks_ without ever feeling the need to leave at all.

Which Pepper clearly knows. She laughs, "Last time I went to wrangle Tony from R&D for a conference call, the entire department seemingly banded together in order to keep me from him for just a little longer. I must have been waylaid by about half of R&D, all of them with the most ridiculous questions or excuses. Only to finally find Tony in one of the labs, stuffed to the brim with scientists hanging onto his every word. When I finally got him to leave, they glared at me like children having their favorite storyteller taken away. It was honestly adorable."

His platypus grins, "Storyteller Tony, the scientists' pied piper."

Tony grins. He won't even pretend he doesn't love the fact that R&D enjoys his visits enough to even risk Pepper's wrath.

Pepper looks nothing but amused as she says, "God knows, how much time I will be spending trying to wrangle you into meetings with the board now that you'll be at SI more often."

It's said with obvious humor and Tony knows that Pepper actually missed having him around at SI. Not only in his capacity of a majority shareholder making any board meetings infinitely less stressful for her - because no matter their personal and inter-personal differences, in regards to SI the two of them have always been on the same page - but also when trying to pitch Tony's new inventions or business ventures to business associates.

Because as much as she likes to present herself as perfectly professional, she also hates incompetence. Pepper finds immense satisfaction in watching Tony verbally rip the various idiots she regularly has to deal with during business meetings to shreds. Only to drive the humiliation home by apologizing in Tony's stead once he has flounced out of the room, with something along the lines of 'You must excuse Mr. Stark. As a true genius it simply isn't apparent to him just how far _behind_ some people's knowledge is on simple day-to-day topics.'.

Yeah, Pepper does passive-aggressive like no one else.

So, Tony just grins at her, feeling completely relaxed in this circle of his closest friends, "Oh you know you missed having to wrangle me from A to B and back again."

"A sentiment I am expecting to start regretting quite quickly." Pepper nods wisely.

Tony mock seriously nods his head, "I will do my very best not to disappoint."

Rhodey just snorts in amusement and Happy holds out his beer for Tony to clink his glass against.

There is a slight lull in their conversation as they relax on the couches, finishing their plates of amazing Thai food.

Finally, Happy speaks up again, "So, the DIA is taking over the intel filtering and everything _else_ that you used to do for the Avengers? No exceptions?"

Tony nods, "Yeah, from now on the DIA will be smoothing things over for the team _before_ , _during_ and _after_ missions. I can't even tell you what a relief that is. No more gathering and filtering intel, no more contacting local, federal and international law enforcement, no more clearing airspace for the Quinjet, no more press conferences or court appearances, no more designing specialized gear or arguing for political concessions or organizing charity events to keep up their good name. No more _nothing_." Tony blows out a breath. "It's not on me anymore."

There is a pause, before his Rhodey bear grumbles, "It should never have _been_ on you in the first place. Seriously, I don't get why people think it's _Rogers_ who is in charge of the Avengers. He only ever speaks up about team unity or about tactics on the field. At absolute _most_ I'd say, he's mission command."

Pepper nods, looking absolutely serious - which is quite an impressive feat, considering that she is currently wearing a pink, sequined party hat with bright blue tassels - as she says, "I think the biggest success was that Trenton managed to get the DIA to take over PR _and_ legal."

Tony nods in agreement, although that's only part of what made the deal so very essential in his eyes. "A lot of the legal complications will actually no longer be an issue anymore, now that the Avengers are officially part of the intelligence community. They'll have a lot more actual, _legal_ authority during missions."

Rhodey immediately agrees, "Yeah, and even outside of missions, from now on they'll be part of US law enforcement, so anyone trying to infringe on the team's rights will immediately be faced with the entirety of the US intelligence and law enforcement community on the warpath, fighting tooth and nail, if only to prevent letting anyone set a precedent."

Tony nods. _That_ right there, _that_ was the main reason for him bringing the proposal to DC in the first place.

Rhodey continues, "And for missions they will _also_ be treated like any _other_ active agent or officer in the field, meaning individual assessments for team members, mission assignments based on skills, mission reports and actual debriefings -"

"Don't forget the mandatory mental and physical health checks.", Tony jumps in.

 _God_ , does the team need that. _Desperately_.

He tries to force his mind away from thoughts of the witch, who has proven herself to be able and all too _willing_ to mess around in other people's heads without showing any sort of remorse in the aftermath. Not to even mention the team's complete indifference to it. 

 _Yeah,_ so _not getting into that right now._

His platypus nods even as he continues, "- and as long as they adhere to those protocols they'll have the same legal fallback as any other US officer or agent."

"Yeah.", Tony agrees.

It's an incredible relief to know that the team now has independent oversight. Oversight before missions - to check whether they have all the facts, to give an outsider's opinion, to provide additional intel - and during missions - to organize backup, to communicate with other agencies, to react to new intel coming in - as well as after missions - to deal with the fallout and relief efforts.

To make absolutely sure that something like ULTRON - something like Sokovia - _never. happens. again._

And for once, everyone even seemed to be on the same page. Because Tony definitely hadn't been the only one pushing to implement some additional protocols and a clear chain of command for Avengers missions, considering how quickly the deal was pushed through by the government and even more so considering the lack of objections from the team themselves.

It's a load off Tony's shoulders _and_ his conscience. Not to even mention his bank account.

Because with the oversight of the Avengers being entirely the DIA's responsibility, they are also _liable_ if anything goes wrong.

From now on, Tony's only responsibility regarding the Avengers are the general costs - like salaries, equipment costs, traveling budgets, housing, et cetera - but the organization, oversight and _fallout_ are now the DIA's problem.

Of course, he couldn't just hand over a team of superheroes to the government without having some sort of fallback in place. Especially, knowing about the Accords currently being in the works. Yeah, no way.

So, Tony had resolutely insisted on _remaining_ the Avengers' financial backer, landlord and contract holder.

Although, that concession had actually been agreed upon surprisingly quickly. Tony suspects he hadn't been the only one at that negotiating table wanting to make sure that the Avengers were kept out of any unsavory characters' hands.

Honestly, Tony had quite liked the DIA bigwigs he had met. Most of them had been surprisingly reasonable and primarily driven by trying to come up with a deal that would benefit their _country_ as a whole instead of just a few individuals. Between Tony and the DIA they actually found decent middle ground for quite a few practical and legal eventualities.

Like Tony paying for the day-to-day costs of the team - which is already an exorbitant amount to be honest - but in exchange the DIA taking on anything _beyond_ the agreed upon budget. Or like the DIA now having the exclusive power to evaluate potential new members for the team, but in exchange Tony - as the financial backer and contract holder - gets an incontestable veto right for anyone that _does_ pass their evaluation. It means that neither the DIA nor Tony can just add someone to the roster without getting the other side's approval first.

All in all, the negotiations went so amazingly well that Tony is still waiting for the other shoe to drop. And he is fairly certain that that foot will be wrapped in a red-white-and-blue, star-spangled uniform.

He keeps his sigh to  himself and says, "I'm just glad it's finally done. Dear me, I almost had a fit when Cap called the day before the final signing to talk about that interview. I really thought he was calling to tear the whole deal to shreds."

Rhodey grumbles, "Yeah, though his actual reason for calling was only slightly less irritating."

Tony keeps himself from frowning at the reminder. Because even though it was _his_ decision to truly retire from the team, Cap's assertion that _Iron Man_ is part of the Avengers - almost as in direct opposition to _Tony_ himself - _still_ stings.

'Iron Man: yes, Tony Stark: not recommended', indeed.

 _Thanks, Cap, for confirming that particular self-esteem issue of mine_ , Tony thinks sarcastically.

But before Tony's thoughts can turn too maudlin, Happy speaks up again. "But it really sounds like the DIA deal turned out pretty decent?"

Ah, good old Happy. Trust him to reliably enable Tony's tendency to avoid anything that might weigh too heavily on his mind, always there with a distraction or a way out.

And Tony happily latches on to the change of topic, "It really is. In the end, everyone seemed honestly satisfied with the entire thing. I get to hand over the bureaucratic nightmare that is an internationally active superhero team, including all those pesky legal complications that come with the Avengers' particular brand of colorfully costumed do-gooders. And the government gets a claim to our country's most prolific superhero team without having to actually pay for anything."

Tony immediately wants to take that last sentence back, because he already knows what is coming next.

Pepper's somewhat annoyed sigh comes right on cue. "I still wish you hadn't insisted on remaining their financial backer. You could have handed the Avengers over _entirely_ to the DIA."

Tony almost wants to roll his eyes in frustration. The two of them just keep coming back to this argument. This right there is where Pepper never understood Tony. Not in regards to SI weapons, certainly not in regards to the team and not even in regards to him being Iron Man.

Because ever since seeing the destruction wrought by his own indifference - when he didn't care to _check_ , to make _sure_ that SI weapons actually ended up where they were supposed to - Tony has felt _responsible_.

And Pepper doesn't get _why_.

But even before his brief stint in the Afghan caves, Tony had _never_ been even remotely inclined to just hand all the power to the government.

It's one of the few things Howard Stark ever took the time to truly impart to his son. Tony can still hear his dad's voice in his head, ' _No matter what they promise you, no matter how good a deal it may seem,_ never _hand over their leash, Tony_.'.

Thankfully, in all his business dealings, Tony has always kept that particular piece of advice in mind. Because turns out, his dad had been right.

Obie's black market dealings had certainly confirmed the truth of it.

Because Obie had been dealing under the table for literally _decades_ \- there had been terrorists with veritable _arsenals_ of SI weapons - and Tony is supposed to believe that _no one_ had realized that something might have been amiss until he himself was captured and saw it with his own eyes?

_Yeah, right. Why don't you try pulling the other one? It's got bells on it._

Someone _had_ to have realized that SI weapons were ending up in places they really shouldn't. But no one had seen fit to tell _him_. None of the brass, none of the politicians and no one from his own damn company. Everyone had kept mum. Obie had certainly had known how to give just the right incentives to just the right people.

After Obie's death, Tony had spent _years_ following the money trails leading off from his godfather's various accounts, trails that tended to end in the accounts of various high-ranking government or even military officials.

Of course, the subsequent series of scandals tearing apart the lives and careers of those particular individuals has nothing at all to do with that. It's completely unrelated. Really.

But the point is that - once he realized what was happening in his own company - Tony had been able to simply pull the plug, to cut off _everyone_ from SI weapons for the simple reason that it was within his _rights_ to do so. And everyone's scrambling to find a replacement for SI weapons in the aftermath had given him the perfect chance to root out the rot.

In the end, the entire clusterfuck had only affirmed Tony's stance on _always_ having an additional safety net in place.

Sadly, it had still taken the Ultron debacle to show Tony that there also needs to be something in place in case he _himself_ is ever compromised. Lesson definitely fucking learned.

So, accordingly, he is now handing the government the power to keep the Avengers in check, in exchange for the power of keeping the politicians in check in turn. Adding in Captain America's immovable stance on always doing the right thing and this should make decently sure that no one will ever be able to abuse their power over the Avengers. Not Tony, not the DIA and not even Steve.

Tony honestly can't think of a better setup.

Still, back to Pepper's complaint.

"Pep, light of my life, I can't just willy-nilly hand over a team of superheroes. This is our _government_ we're talking about here. There is always some moron, who fucks it up for everyone else."

Tony tries to keep the mood light because he knows that Pepper is only trying to make _his_ life easier by suggesting he get rid of his responsibility to the team entirely.

Pepper breathes in deep, her frustration evident, "But that isn't _your_ responsibility, Tony! The government has checks and balances for those kind of eventualities."

She is clearly just as annoyed as he is about having this argument again, but also just as resigned, knowing that there is no swaying Tony on this topic. Just as he knows he will never convince her.

Next to her, Happy is frowning, having always been split on this issue. On one hand, he would prefer for Tony to make himself a little less of a target by getting rid of some of his high-profile responsibilities. On the other hand, Happy has dealt first hand with the heavy-handedness of various government agencies, politicians and business rivals trying to bend Tony to their will, knows the reality of the lengths people will go to in order to gain just the slightest bit of additional power. And what they will try to do with it once they succeed.

Thankfully, at least his platypus is on his side in this. Rhodey knows that sometimes interests - those of the military, the politicians, the economy - clash. And when the people in power start trying to outmaneuver each other, the ones who suffer are _always_ the people.

His platypus _gets_ politics, has played this game long enough at Tony's side to _understand_.

So, Rhodey tries to calm Pepper. "Look Pepper, I'm all for a clear-cut, immovable chain of command. And in a perfect world, sure, we could let just one side of the equation hold all the power and rely on them being able to keep themselves in check. But it doesn't hurt to have some sort of additional assurance in case they don't."

Here, Happy scowls, "Still, it shouldn't always have to be _Tony_ having to make sure no one screws up the country."

Tony snorts in amusement.

Rhodey grins as well, "Yeah, but who else is there, man? Who is going to tell the government to screw off if they ever really go too far? Everyone _knows_ that Tones is pretty much untouchable, that he doesn't need the government, that he doesn't even need the US economy to keep SI afloat. Hell, if Tones decides to leave the country tomorrow taking his businesses with him, the rest of the world will promptly be falling _over_ themselves trying to get him to move to their corner of the globe."

Tony grins. _Isn't that the truth_.

Pepper on the other hand is still frowning.

Tony sighs and turns serious, trying once more to make Pepper _understand_ , "Look, Pep, I _can't_ hand over the Avengers to our government entirely. Right now, it is actually beneficial for the Avengers to be part of the government, to have those additional legal fallbacks for their missions. And _completely coincidentally_ of course," Tony grins at her, "this will also help legitimize the idea of superhumans working directly with the government. Give it a few months and by the time the Accords become an official issue, the public should have long since gotten used to the thought of legitimate, government-approved, cooperating superheroes."

Yeah, never let it be said, Tony doesn't know how to play more than one angle with any given opportunity.

But back to the actual topic at hand.

He sighs, "But I can't just hand the team over entirely. Especially not now, not so close to the Accords. The world is currently trying to decide whether people with enhancements are even to be considered human at _all_. I would love to believe that _our_ country would never debase itself to the point of resorting to any kind of sub-human categories, but history says otherwise."

It's a sad fact, but fear of the unfamiliar, the unknown or even just the uncertain makes people do things they would never even consider doing otherwise. Tony can attest to that. Ultron really taught him a number of lessons about himself.

Tony continues, "Having _me_ as the main hurdle standing in the way will deter most people from even _trying_ to get at the Avengers at the risk of pissing me off. But if worse really comes to worst, if they truly create a legal framework that would give them _legal_ power over superhumans, even more so for superhumans in their employ, then _I_ need to have a just as valid, _legal_ way to pull the Avengers out, a way that won't upset the public. Even if that means, just having the power to simply disband the Avengers entirely, because it will at least get them out from directly under the government's thumb. I just can't _risk_ doing otherwise."

At that, Pepper's face crumples a little.

Finally she nods with a small, resigned smile. "I _do_ understand, Tony. I just wish it wouldn't have to always be _you_ who has to pick up the slack."

Tony huffs a breath, caught somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, "You and me both, Pep. You and me both."

 

* * *

 

It's the next day, just after 10pm when Tony gets the call.

FRIDAY somehow picks up on the call and simply puts it through. Only for Tony to promptly be yelled at by a stranger.

"This is Fire Battalion Chief Jordan. We need Iron Man!" Then the man seemingly just throws the phone to someone else to handle the details.

And Tony is already stumbling out of his workshop, as FRIDAY assembles the suit around him, listening intently to the firefighter at the other end of the line describing what he is going to walk into.

A fire has broken out in one of New York's high rise apartment buildings. It started on the fifth floor but has by now spread several floors upwards and now the residents of the upper floors are trapped above the inferno. They have no idea how the building's integrity is being affected by the fire and whether the entire thing is in danger of collapsing, taking everyone inside - including numerous fire fighters - with it.

The elevator reaches the pent house and Tony is already sprinting towards the landing pad - his suit fully assembled around him - taking off as soon as he clears the glass doors.

His hud immediately lights up with images of the inferno, as FRIDAY pulls up anything she can find about the fire and the FDNY's efforts to fight it.

Although, the fire itself isn't that hard to find once Tony is up in the air. Its blaze is like a beacon across New York's night sky.

It takes Tony all of three minutes to get there with his suit, seven minutes since he received the call.

"FRIDAY, please scan the building for structural weaknesses."

"On it, boss."

His eyes immediately start scanning the scene, taking everything in.

The area around the burning building is entirely lit up by the flashing blue and red lights from the numerous fire trucks, ambulances and police cars scattered along the street, illuminating the efforts of the countless emergency responders on the scene.

Firefighters - trying to get as many people out of the building as possible or fighting the fire itself. Paramedics - treating civilians with oxygen masks for smoke inhalation or loading burn victims into ambulances and taking off for the nearest hospital. Police - evacuating the surrounding buildings and trying to push back the civilian onlookers who are just standing around with their phones out. _Because why bother trying to help when you could be the first to upload a video of the catastrophe?_

Tony wants to shake his head at the idiocy of people, even as his eyes easily pick out the person in this mess who is clearly in charge of the firefighting efforts and quickly directs the suit to land next to the man.

Who only pauses briefly at Tony's arrival before continuing to bark orders - going by his voice, it's the same guy who called Tony less than ten minutes ago - but the relief on the Battalion Chief's face is more than apparent.

It only takes a minute or two until the man focuses on Tony.

"Where do you want me?" Tony asks promptly. Why waste time with pleasantries? They can do the meet and greet later.

The man apparently agrees, responding without preamble. "We got the lower floors covered, but the trucks can only get close enough to reach the 7th and 8th floor, so evacuation of the upper floors is slow. We don' know how many people are still trapped on the upper floors. We need eyes up there and help gettin' people out."

Tony just gives a terse nod and immediately takes off towards the building. He aims for the topmost floor and simply crashes through the first window he comes across.

"Baby girl, please scan for any human heat signatures."

His HUD promptly lights up with numerous glowing figures scattered throughout various apartments.

Seeing so many of the apartments still occupied, Tony wants to sigh. Is it really too much to ask, for people to at least make their way out of their damn apartments in a situation like this?

 _Well, nothing for it_ , Tony thinks, as he kicks the first door in.

The first person he reaches is an older woman crawling through her apartment, trying to catch her panicking cat.

Tony grabs both of them without preamble - he swears the cat leaves scratch marks on the suit, gold-titanium alloy or not - and doesn't even bother making his way back the way he came. He just crashes backwards through the first window he sees to drop off both of his passengers next to an ambulance outside.

Before promptly turning the suit around to look for the next idiot hiding in the burning building.

It's a guy in his underpants - clearly stoned out of his mind - whose only reaction to being dragged out of a burning building is something along the lines of, "Cool dude. Can I have an autograph?". Tony snorts but doesn't really have time to respond as he drops the guy in the same spot where he left the cat and her pet lady and promptly turns back around to fly back into the building.

And that's how it goes.

The next fifteen minutes are a haze of grabbing people, flying outside, dumping them on the nonexistent front lawn and flying back into the building. Rinse and repeat.

Then, FRIDAY speaks up. "Boss, the overall integrity of the building is at 76%. The fire has compromised one of the main supportive walls on the south-east side."

"Building collapse?" Tony asks as he absently kicks another door in.

"The current danger of collapse is 17.73%. With continued fire, the threat of collapse on the south-east side will reach 81% in approximately 46 minutes and subsequently the probability of complete building collapse rises to approximately 58.4%."

Dammit, that's less than an hour and there are 11 people just on _this_ floor. "Thanks, baby girl." Tony says, even as his mind is trying to come up with anything to help them speed up the evacuation.

"Baby girl, why don't you call that Wilson guy. The one with the wings. We could use some help here."

"On it, boss."

Tony dumps the hysterical mother with her two crying children next to an ambulance, before speeding across the parking lot back towards the Battalion Chief.

The man immediately focuses on him when he sees the suit approaching, so Tony doesn't waste any time getting to the point.

"The building's integrity is compromised. Within the next thirty minutes it will reach a critical point on the south-east side."

"Fuck!" The man promptly starts swearing up a storm into the device he is holding to his ear.

Well, isn't that a wonderfully concise summary of this situation.

Tony figures he'll give the man some time to figure out their next steps and until then, he'll keep busy evacuating some more people.

"How many people still in there, Fry?"

"117 people and 14 pets in total, boss."

Shit.

Tony speeds back towards the building, determined to continue making his way from top to bottom to get as many people out as possible.

FRIDAY speaks up again. "Boss, I am unable to reach Sam Wilson. It appears as though he might be ignoring my calls. Based on the GPS data of his phone he is currently in Prague."

 _Prague?_ Tony feels his eyebrows rise, even as he absently grabs the old guy who has been hiding in his bathtub for whatever godforsaken reason.

"What about the rest of the team, baby girl?"

Only a few seconds pass. "Steve Rogers and Wanda Maximoff appear to be in Prague as well, boss."

Is the entire team in Europe? Have they been sent on a DIA mission _already_?

Tony is honestly surprised. The ink on the DIA deal is barely dry and he had expected the government to take at least a few weeks of meetings and greetings and seminars and fucking _trust falls_ before they would start sending the Avengers on _any_ missions, much less on missions in other countries.

But well, who is Tony to judge their decision making? It's not his call anymore. _Thank the gods._

And he had sworn to himself - and his Rhodey bear - that as soon as the DIA deal was done, Tony would truly step back from the Avengers. To not keep track of them, to not keep constantly ready in case they needed backup. To simply treat the team like just another business venture of his, at least for a while. To let everyone deal with their own shit like the adults they supposedly are.

Well, he had still expected to be bombarded with the team's complaints about everything that they think is wrong with the deal itself, now that it is actually being implemented.

Honestly, their silence nags at Tony.

He sure as fuck hopes that the team isn't just ignoring the DIA. Or - even worse - just doing their own thing, irreverent of the newly implemented protocols.

"Is there anything of note happening in Prague right now?"

His baby girl is getting better and better at anticipating his requests, as evidenced by her immediate response. "Not according to international or local news, boss."

Tony is just so damn proud of his girl.

But, well. Maybe the DIA sent the Avengers on a company retreat or something. Tony wants to snort as his brain immediately supplies him with an image of the Avengers in their rather colorful collection of costumes learning to ski as a 'shared experience for team building' or something.

Anyways, Tony definitely doesn't have time to worry about it right now, especially as he won't get any help from the team right now.

His thoughts are promptly interrupted by a flash of the familiar red and blue onesie/hoodie combo of his favorite pseudo-arachnid.

"Hi Mr. Stark!" The Spiderling greets cheerfully as he swings by.

And Tony just wants to sigh, caught somewhere between relief at getting some help here and dismay at having the kid involved at all.

Well, no use arguing about it right now - it's not like the kid will let himself be sent away at this point - while they should be getting people out of a burning building. He catches up and lands next to the kid on the roof of the building.

"Thanks for stopping by, kid."

"No problem, Mr. St- I mean Tony. I saw the fire from my room. But I didn't expect to meet you here. I'm here with Iron Man! This is so cool!"

Tony can actually feel his mood lift despite the situation. The Spiderling just seems to have that effect on him.

Still, he forces himself to sober, instructing the kid, "Yeah, I could really use some help."

"Iron Man wants my help." The Spiderling breathes in awe, before physically shaking himself. "Yeah! I mean yes. I mean of course! What do I do?" The kid rambles.

Tony is glad no one can see his smile at the kid's antics through his faceplate. Because they are currently standing on a burning building. So, smiling might be considered slightly inappropriate by anyone watching.

Instead he answers, "The top two floors are entirely evacuated and I already started on the next one. You take the one below that."

"On it." Is the reply he gets, as the Spiderling turns to sprint towards the edge of the roof.

Huh. How nice to have someone just take his instructions without making Tony argue about every single thought process that led him there.

But before the Spiderling can swing away, Tony stops him. "Kid, the building integrity is compromised. If it starts going down, you get out."

He can practically see the protest forming - yeah, this kid is definitely the type to let himself be buried by a collapsing building if it means potentially saving just one more civilian.

And while Tony can more than relate to that, this is just a fifteen year old kid for god's sake! It's unacceptable.

He needs an incentive to keep the kid from letting himself be heroically buried under burning rubble. "Kid, we will be more help digging people out in the aftermath than being caught somewhere in the rubble ourselves. Alright?"

The kid droops. Then a sigh. "Right. Thanks, M- Tony."

+++

In the end, the fire department manages to put out the fire before the building integrity is critically compromised and between the fire fighters, Tony and Peter they actually manage to get all of the top floors evacuated, even including any pets they come across.

Although, the Spiderling's method of making an oversized spiderweb between two neighboring buildings and then evacuating civilians by just throwing them at it from the windows of the burning building has New York's first responders caught somewhere between incredulity and laughter.

Tony thinks it's ingenious and his brain is already calculating how to install a netting feature in his next suit. Not necessarily the sticky spiderweb kind but maybe something infused with metal so it could even conduct electricity, to immobilize anyone caught in it. Hm...

Of course, not all residents were so lucky to entirely escape the effects of the fire. They pulled out several unconscious residents - who have already been rushed off to the nearest hospital - some with critical levels of smoke inhalation, but surprisingly few with life-threatening burns.

All in all, today is actually a good day.

In the aftermath - ambulances leaving with the less critically affected passengers, the police letting residents of the neighboring buildings back into their apartments and the Spiderling helping to get the people down from his oversized spiderweb - Tony directs his suit to land next to the Battalion Chief who called him in for help.

He lets the suit retract from his body, but before he can actually say anything to the man he is promptly swarmed by paramedics thrusting oxygen masks in his face. They look like eager puppies, begging for Iron Man's attention.

Tony fights off his grin, even as he waves them off. "Thanks guys, but the suit has an inbuilt filter system. I didn't inhale any smoke."

The entire group deflates, looking almost comically disappointed at not being able to treat Iron Man. How adorable.

Once they disperse - though most of them continue to linger close by, possibly hoping for Tony to change his mind or maybe to have a sudden coughing fit - the Battalion Chief steps up next to him. And for a few moments they both just stand next to each other, silently watching the blackened, still smoking building that kept them busy tonight.

The man looks exhausted but relieved, clearly in the same boat as Tony, simply being glad that today didn't end in tragedy.

Finally, the man sighs. "Today was a good day."

Tony hums in agreement.

"Name's Barry Jordan."

"Tony Stark."

A snort. Then, "Thanks for showin' up." The man's Brooklyn accent is quite strong, now that he isn't barking orders at everyone around him.

Tony doesn't turn towards him but answers seriously, "Always. This is what Iron Man is for."

The Battalion Chief nods but he doesn't look entirely convinced as he shrugs. "Well, with the Avengers an' all that international business and the aliens and the world savin', it was startin' to look like Iron Man might not have the time for somethin' as petty as a buildin' on fire anymore."

"Hm." Tony agrees, grinning at the man's candid summary of the past years' events.

The man grunts. "The entire city breathed a sigh of relief when you announced your retirement. An' today might have ended quite differently without your help. Or that other guy's."

"Spiderman." Tony interjects.

"Yeah, _Spider_ man." The man snorts somewhat incredulously.

"Yep." Tony pops the 'p' with a grin. "He's a good guy. I just choose to ignore the somewhat demented, tarzanesc swinging between buildings he's got going on." He fibs.

The Lieutenant snorts at that. "Tarzanesc? If the guy hadn't just helped us evacuate as many civilians as he could get his hands on, I would be calling it something else entirely."

Tony grins.

And speak of the devil, a moment later the Spiderling lands right next to Tony. The kid's excitement is more than apparent despite the head-to-toe costume.

The obvious scorch marks on the Spiderling's costume promptly shock Tony out of his good mood.

 _Too damn close,_ Tony thinks _. He's just a kid, just fifteen. He shouldn't have_ been _here_.

He doesn't let any of his thoughts show on his face, however. Because Tony swore to himself that he would be the kid's anchor, someone for Peter to call without reservation if he ever finds himself in a situation that he can't handle himself, someone to talk to when the heavy cross of putting your _all_ into saving others and still inevitably being found wanting makes the kid doubt himself. Tony will not jeopardize that by making Peter feel like he is somehow lacking in his eyes, like he has to _prove_ himself to Tony.

Instead he grins - forcing quite a bit more cheer into his smile than he actually feels - at the still lingering horde of paramedics, points at the kid and says, " _He_ , however, _didn't_ have any protections against the smoke. Feel free to fuss."

All faces immediately swing towards the Spiderling, who promptly takes a step back, clearly surprised at the sudden attention.

"M- Mr. Stark?" The kid's voice actually raises in pitch.

Tony just gives a cheerful wave - _that's what you get_ \- even as he watches with an edge of desperation as the kid is promptly swarmed by well-meaning paramedics.

The Spiderling is far less effective in fighting off the group of over-enthusiastic helpers and after a few minutes just gives in and accepts one of the oxygen masks, being far too nice to tell them that his enhanced body wouldn't feel any aftereffects of the smoke anyways.

It does nothing to help Tony feel better about having relied on a fifteen year old kid's help.

Because point is, if the Battalion Chief _hadn't_ called Tony in for help, the Spiderling would still have shown up and then the kid would most likely have been _alone_ in evacuating civilians. Who knows how tonight would have ended in that case.

And there are so many _adult_ superhumans just in NYC. Superhumans who have shown themselves to be absolutely willing to put their own lives on the line to protect civilians, so many who would immediately have jumped in to help evacuate civilians tonight. If only Tony had had a way to reach them.

Not to even mention all the superhumans _outside_ of NYC, who have dedicated themselves to helping civilians but wouldn't just come to their aid unasked, because of this asinine system of keeping out of each other's cities to avoid stepping on each other's toes.

Tony is well aware that it absolutely makes sense for superhumans to keep out of each other's way in general. They can't just randomly interfere in every situation they get wind of, because they would unavoidably clash and destruction would inevitably follow. 

 _But_ this _just doesn't cut it anymore either_ , Tony thinks.

Tony had already been vaguely considering whether the line of communication he is currently building for the Accords, could be used as a system to call each other for backup in emergencies. But up 'til now, Tony had only been thinking about this on the world-saving scale, for when the Chitauri come back or another god decides to take over earth or someone else builds another genocidal robot.

However, seeing the Spiderling bounce up on his other side in his partially charred suit to join them in watching the still smoking building, makes those vague plans suddenly seem utterly insufficient.

Instead Tony feels an almost visceral surge of renewed determination. This is not how it _should_ be. So, Tony will _fix_ it.

And with the Avengers now being someone else's problem - and apparently already being sent to solve international crises over in Europe - Tony has the spare time to fit in another project anyways.

+++

When the emergency responders finally start dispersing, Tony tells the kid to follow him to his tower. They are going to have a debriefing.

While Tony has always _hated_ debriefings, he has also heard that _supposedly_ it's not only about defending everything you allegedly did wrong during a mission - although that's certainly all Tony was ever forced to do in every single debriefing he attended with the team - but also a psychological relief for people to talk through a stressful or potentially even traumatizing mission.

So, yeah. Tony is definitely making the kid sit down with him and talk through tonight's events. Even if just to make sure there are no lingering doubts or assumed failures on the Spiderling's mind.

The kid of course enthusiastically agrees and soon Tony is flying back to the tower with the Spiderling happily swinging alongside him.

It's also a wonderful excuse to keep the kid under his watch for at least a little longer, just to make sure the Spiderling doesn't get himself into any more potentially life-threatening situations tonight. One can only hope.

But seeing the scorch marks on the Spiderling's costume, every time the kid swings back into his field of vision also makes Tony feel at least slightly nauseous.

He shakes himself. Seeing as the kid's costume is pretty much ruined, this is the perfect time to have the kid try it out the spidersuit's prototype which FRIDAY finished manufacturing just two days ago.

While the prototype doesn't yet have the complete set of security features and protections that Tony is absolutely planning to include - the final version will probably take him another few weeks to finish - it is still a damn sight better protection than the literal _onesie_ the kid has been wearing until now. As evidenced tonight by the kid determinedly swinging into a burning building, irreverent to the smoke he inhaled or the fire that licked at his very flammable clothes. _Any_ upgrade to the kid's current gear will be an improvement.

"FRIDAY, my girl, would you send up the spidersuitcase to the penthouse?"

"Already on its way, boss."

"Thanks, Fry."

First order of business will be getting the Spiderling into a better suit for better protection. The debriefing and any other discussions can wait. 

That having the kid wear his tech will also make it much easier for Tony to track him down in case Peter is ever in over his head, well, that goes without saying.

They reach the tower within a few minutes and once they are inside his penthouse, the kid immediately gets rid of his mask and promptly proceeds to practically vibrate in place in excitement, bouncing on his toes and all his attention focused on Tony.

And Tony feels like he could just sit down and literally sleep for a week. But he tries to cover his utter exhaustion by making his way over to the bar to get the both of them something to drink.

Where he spots the spidersuitcase sitting neatly next to the bar.

Waving the kid over, Tony says, "Great job today, Peter."

Peter just grins back at him, expression caught somewhere between glowing in pride and pure amazement at being complimented, "Thanks, M- Tony."

And Tony is so not going to think about what it says about the reactions the kid usually gets for his efforts to help people, if he is stunned at simply being thanked.

"I mean it, kid. You saved a lot of people today. Everyone's job would have been much harder without you there."

Peter fairly glows at the praise and looks like he might start swooning any second now. Because of a simple line of praise. After saving numerous civilians from possibly being burned alive.

_Goodness me, this has got to be the most pure-hearted kid this side of the Atlantic._

Tony gives Peter a few moments to bask in his apparent elation, before clapping to dispel the serious atmosphere. "Alright! Now, on to the fun part."

Dramatically looking the kid up and down, he says, "I hope you are not too offended if I tell you that your costume is atrocious. You need an overhaul. Top to bottom." He makes a gesture that encompasses the kid's entire outfit. Then, "Actually, you know what? Maybe you _should_ be offended. Because _I_ certainly am, just from having to look at it. That sweatpants-slash-hoodie combo has _got_ to go."

The kid actually looks somewhat offended - really? - but before he can start protesting, Tony declares, "So, I decided to make you a new suit." He reaches over for the spidersuitcase and puts it down in front of Peter. "Don't worry, this is only the prototype."

Now, Peter seems speechless again. He recovers after a few seconds, "A- a new suit?"

"Yeah, come on, open it. Chop, chop." Tony says, feeling somewhat excited himself. He loves giving people he cares about new tech, loves their enjoyment of it.

Peter is still hesitating, maybe waiting for some sort of punchline, but at Tony's enthusiastic gesture to move it along reaches for the suitcase. Directing another uncertain look up at Tony, he finally presses the release.

The suitcase pops open, revealing the brand new spidersuit. For a few moment there is silence, as the kid stares at it in stunned awe. Before Peter practically explodes in excitement.

"Woah! Hoh, my god! Wh- what the- I- This is- this is the coolest thing I've ever seen! Is this- really, this is for me? Is it really? Woah, it's so cool! Look at- Look at the eyes! Oh my god, this is insane! It's a suit! Is it really for me! This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me! This is so awesome! Thank you, Mr. Stark! Tony! I mean Tony. But really thanks! This is so cool! Seriously, this is the greatest day of my life!"

And Tony feels a ridiculously large smile take over his own face at Peter's enthusiasm, as he relaxes back in his seat and just listens to the Spiderling babble on excitedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this chapter is weird... I'm sorry for the long delay, but I got completely stuck on the scene of Tony meeting Professor X. I just can't seem to figure out how to best fit the timelines of the two movieverses together. So, since I can make this take place whenever, I wanted to ask your opinions? (I'll probably just go with whichever comments make the most sense to me and seem the most promising plotwise, but I just really need some input, because I'm worried the story might actually get stuck on this otherwise...) The different scenes scuttling around my head are now blocking me from writing it at all.  
> So, help please? (^^;)
> 
> In the end, I decided to give you this weird patch-work chapter for now, which is really just different kinds of Team Tony interactions. Hope this will tide you over until the next chapter :)  
> Also, I'm not at all familiar with how the emergency response services work in the US , so please let me know if I messed that up in any way!
> 
> And as always, thanks for all your comments and kudos! You guys are awesome!


	10. Intervened

Tony blinks awake.

A few seconds of staring at the dark ceiling later and his brain is picking up right where it left off when he fell asleep a few hours ago, already running at full speed.

He sighs. His brain just doesn’t lend itself to dozing. It's already incredibly hard for him to shut off his mind enough to be able to fall asleep in the first place and once he becomes even _slightly_ aware of the outside world, he goes from asleep to fully awake within moments.

Oh, how he sometimes wishes he could simply stay in bed and rest for another hour or so from time to time. But alas, his brain would promptly shrivel up in boredom.

It's one of the drawbacks of being a genius.

FRIDAY is already fading out the blinds to let in some daylight and with a sigh Tony blinks the sleep out of his eyes.

He pulls himself upright, "Good morning, Fry."

"Good morning, boss. It is 7.54am, the weather is cloudy and in the high 80s. The forecast promises rain in the evening. Your first appointment today is a video call with Susan Storm and her team at 11.30am, followed by a meeting with the SI board of directors and another video conference with the UN Committee for Planetary Defense. You have also asked me to remind you to arrange a meeting with Ms. Jennifer Walters this week."

Tony nods, "Right. Thanks, baby girl."

Sounds like yet another busy day.

 _God_ , Tony is exhausted. That mission yesterday really took a lot out of him.

He only made it to bed around 5.30am, after waking the Spiderling - who had fallen asleep on his couch - and sending him home to get ready for school before his aunt noticed him missing.

And despite Tony now being dead tired, missing a few hours of sleep in order to watch Peter excitedly bounce around his penthouse in his new spidersuit had still definitely been _worth_ it.

Tony honestly lost count of the number of times the Spiderling thanked him yesterday or asked whether the suit was truly for him or exclaimed about this being the best day of his life or discovered another feature of the suit to rave about. Only to then thank Tony once more and start the cycle all over again.

Seriously, Tony hasn't seen anyone this excited about one of his gifts in... dear god, possibly ever.

Which is honestly a little sad, considering that Tony so _likes_ giving gifts.

Well, his friends have long since stopped thanking him profusely for the things Tony hands them and instead they simply reciprocate, knowing that Tony's random gift giving is just his way to show his appreciation, to show that he cares.

Just last week, he received a package of that specially imported fancy kind of coffee – the kind that tastes like heaven but that Tony always forgets to order – from Pepper for the coffee machine in his workshop, entirely unprompted. And Happy just so happened to have Tony’s favorite pastry - from that one German bakery across town that Tony loves but never has the time to actually visit – on hand last time he visited SI. And Rhodey has recently discovered Iron Patriot memes – Tony _refuses_ to use the name War Machine – and is now seemingly trying to make Tony giggle himself to death while he is away on base by spamming his phone with the most absurd memes of all time. Some of the stuff that tumblr comes up with had Tony giggling sporadically for hours.

Point is, whenever he shows up with another random, stupidly expensive gift or hands them another coincidentally perfectly customized piece of tech, Rhodey, Pepper and Happy simply return the gesture.

Although, sometimes it's just a simple, honest thanks works just as well for Tony.

Because while he _knows_ about his tendency to downplay just how much thought and time and effort he puts into any personalized tech, how many failed attempts and tests he goes through to make sure it is absolutely perfect, he also thinks it should be rather obvious that perfectly customized tech doesn't just fall out of trees.

But well, apparently not. Just ask the team. Tony counted himself lucky on the days he got a vague 'Thanks, Tony.' thrown in his direction after handing the Avengers entirely new, perfectly customized gadgets he had spent days or even weeks designing, testing, manufacturing, optimizing.

Honestly, the Spiderling's complete and utter awe at the new suit might just be the best thanks Tony has gotten for one of his presents in years.

And afterwards, once the kid had finally calmed down a little - although clearly still hopped up on adrenaline - Tony had made Peter sit down and talk through their entire fire rescue mission. They had discussed any actions taken, their reasoning, any doubts about what could maybe have been done better and how to possibly fix it next time. The way debriefings were _supposed_ to go.

And apparently, it had also been _necessary_ , because once Tony had finally managed to sit the kid down, the first thing out of Peter's mouth had been an apology for showing up so late to help with the fire in the first place. Which, _what_? Yeah, Tony hadn't been able to just let that stand.

All in all, it had taken them almost an hour to talk through the entire mission but afterwards Peter had looked much lighter than before they had started.

So apparently, regular debriefings are going to be a thing from now on. Because if a simple talk after a mission - with no casualties and no damages done - already has such a big effect on Peter...

Tony hasn't directly asked Peter but based on FRIDAY's data he is fairly certain that the kid hasn't told anyone else about being Spiderman. Which means that Peter currently doesn't have _anyone_ to talk to about his superheroing - and the many many doubts that come with trying to make the _right_ decisions - either.

Which just means that from now on Tony will have to make sure to regularly check in with Peter, if only to make sure that the kid doesn't ever end up in the same sort of dark space Tony had found himself in more than once, when a mission goes wrong, when the death toll from a mission is higher than the number of people you were able to save, when the doubts start overtaking your conviction. It's a dark place to be and not one Tony wishes for the kid to ever find himself in.

Yep, regular debriefings are definitely going to be a thing from now on. Maybe once a week or something? It's not like it is a hardship to have the kid bouncing around his penthouse more often.

Although, even Peter's adrenaline had worn off after they had gotten through their debriefing and the kid had promptly crashed, literally falling asleep between one sentence and the next.

Which had left Tony with a sleeping Spiderling on his couch. And he just hadn't had the heart to wake the kid.

So, instead of going to bed and getting some much needed sleep himself, Tony had settled on the opposite couch with his StarkPad, so he could wake Peter in time for school. Which he admittedly could have asked FRIDAY to do as well, but then the kid would have woken up in Tony's penthouse without a familiar face around and that just didn't sit right with Tony.

And no, he was not _motherhenning_ , no matter what his Rhodey bear has been saying whenever Tony mentions the overly excitable Spiderling.

Tony doesn't motherhen. He _doesn't_.

He only stayed in the living room to wake the kid because Tony had work to do anyways. Like going through the material on the Defenders and the Fantastic Four FRIDAY had gathered for him. Tony has been planning to bring both groups up to speed about the details of the DIA deal - just so they are aware of the precedent - as well as about the looming Accords.

And it is high time that Tony finally gets around to building that superhero network he has been devising in his head.

See, _work_!

It has nothing to do with making sure the kid gets to school on time or doesn't fall off the couch in his sleep or doesn't wake up all alone in unfamiliar surroundings.

...

Well alright, so maybe Tony _does_ motherhen Peter a little. But come on, who would be able to resist? Rhodey just doesn't have any idea what he is talking about. So, Tony just takes a picture of the just-awake Peter to thrust into Rhodey's face the next time he makes fun of Tony for thinking a teenager is adorable, so he can challenge his platypus to claim _he_ would be able to resist motherhenning the kid.

Because kittens and puppies have _nothing_ on a sleepy-eyed Peter - hair sticking up every which way, pillow creases on his cheek - munching on two of Thor's poptarts at the same time, almost falling asleep between bites. It is quite honestly the most adorable thing Tony has ever seen in his life. And now he has proof to make his platypus eat his words.

So, hah!

Anyways. All in all, it was a rather... odd night, what with the fire and the kid and the suit. And less than three hours of sleep for Tony.

Because adorable Spiderlings aside, Tony feels more exhausted now than he did before he even went to bed. He really _is_ getting old. Oh no, soon he'll start needing a full eight hours of sleep like normal people!

 _Good lord, how will I get_ anything _done if I ever have to start spending a third of the day sleeping?!_

Alas, exhaustion or not, he's got shit to do.

So, important things first. The life-giving elixir that is coffee.

+++

Half an hour later he is in his kitchen, ready for the day and mainlining coffee.

He is always quick to get ready in the morning. Seriously, he doesn't get why everyone always seems to think Tony would take forever in the bathroom.

Sure, he is certainly vain enough to never leave the house looking anything but perfectly styled, but trimming his beard is the only thing that really takes up time in his morning routine.

There is a _reason_ why his hairdressers make more money than an average banker just off of Tony. He is convinced Lou and Lina are artists in their own right, because no matter the hairstyle they always manage to cut his hair in a way that only requires Tony to run his hands through it with a little bit of product every morning and voila, perfect hair.

Even Pepper was regularly surprised just how quickly Tony got ready every morning. And she had been his PA for years.

But whatever.

Tony blissfully sips at his coffee while standing at his kitchen counter and scrolling through some schematics R&D sent him just an hour ago for the clean water filter they have been working on for one of SI's more recent humanitarian projects.

FRIDAY speaks up. "Boss, there is a call from Ms. Potts on the line for you."

Tony raises his eyebrows, surprised at the relatively early call. "Put her through, Fry."

There is the standard tone announcing the transfer, before it connects.

"Morning, Pep." He greets even as he refills his coffee for the third time.

"Good morning, Tony." Pepper says crisply.

 _And oh please, no_. Tony knows that tone. It means there is trouble.

As expected, Pepper's next sentence is accompanied by a heavy sigh, "I have Rogers on the other line. Tony, we have a problem."

He really should have just stayed in bed.

+++

So.

Turns out, that at some point over the past year Tony should really have made sure that the Avengers as a whole have the common sense and the common fucking _courtesy_ to only _reply_ to emails they have actually bothered to _read_.

Because - _apparently_ \- the team _hasn't_ actually been reading all those emails from Tony, Pepper, SI legal, the DIA and assorted others about the DIA deal.

Because - _wait for it_ \- it's not only a surprise to the team that the deal is already in effect. Oh no. Even the fact that Tony has been talking to the DIA _at all_ is complete news to them.

 _Who the fuck responds to emails they haven't actually read?!_ Tony thinks, absolutely furious as he gets into the car to take him to SI.

Because if Steve _didn't_ know about the deal _despite_ responding to the emails about the negotiations, the only explanation is that he replied without actually reading anything that so much as mentioned Tony's name.

And Tony can already feel a headache coming on.

Because just yesterday - when Tony could really have used some help rescuing civilians from a burning building - they had been in Prague of all places. And if _Tony_ didn't send them because of _his_ intel and they weren't sent by the DIA because of _their_ intel... then what the fuck was the team doing over in Europe?!

No matter whether they went on an unsanctioned mission based on intel from god knows where, or whether they just went jet-setting around the world for some sightseeing, either way it implies a gross misuse of funds. Because Tony is just going to assume that the team didn't sacrifice their comfort and booked seats on a commercial airplane, not with a readily available Quinjet on site, spoiled lot that they are.

He takes a deep breath, trying to use the few minutes it will take to get to SI to calm down. He doesn't want to explode in their faces the same way he knows they will explode in his. No. He is not part of the team anymore. They don't get to deal with Tony the friend anymore - especially seeing as they so clearly don't have any interest in staying in contact with him going by their absolute radio silence - so now they get to deal with Tony the business man. Maybe not entirely but if they come to him as the Avengers, the brand he owns then they will be treated in that capacity. He will not be let himself be treated like a doormat by them. At the very least, he ows that much self-respect to his three friends who have stuck with him through everything.

His three friends, who came over just two days ago to celebrate the fact that Tony _wouldn't_ have to deal with the team any longer.

Life sure likes its ironies.

But, how ever did the Avengers suddenly become aware of the DIA deal at all, you might ask?

Well, you would be right in assuming that it's certainly not because they suddenly started feeling bad about ignoring numerous emails - some of which including the President of the United States himself as a recipient for god's sake - oh, no.

No, the Avengers suddenly became aware of the deal, simply because they got a call from SI's PR department asking about the agreed upon meet-and-greet between the team, the DIA and Tony at the Compound.

The DIA bigwigs had asked Tony for a tour of the Compound the very day the deal had been signed. And Tony thought it would to be a great way to metaphorically hand over the keys and to formally introduce everyone, before he could then remove himself from the equation _entirely_.

So, in order to set up that tour, some poor PR underling had called Steve to ask about possible scheduling conflicts. Only to be entirely blind-sided by the team's surprise as to why a supposedly random government agency would suddenly want to meet them.

Not knowing how to handle a bunch of ignorant superheroes, that employee had then quickly passed the call on to his superior, starting a trend until the call ultimately reached Pepper's desk.

Tony is honestly somewhat amazed that no one folded and just transferred the call to him directly, as he knows Steve would have demanded. His employees are nothing if not loyal to hold out against Captain America himself. They clearly deserve something nice. Maybe a bonus, or a company-wide day off or a retreat to the Bahamas or something. He'll ask Pepper once they got this mess sorted out. She'll know.

And Pepper - after having been briefed by her underling as to the problem - had promptly called Tony so he could listen in, before even picking up the call.

Tony had even managed to remain entirely silent throughout.

Because when faced with Pepper instead of Tony, Steve had at least remained somewhat cordial in his anger. Although, he had of course promptly demanded for Pepper to send Tony to the Compound to explain himself - as though Tony were a misbehaving child - but Pepper's response had shut him down so fast there should be tire tracks in the Compound somewhere from Steve breaking so hard.

Long story short, they - Tony, Pepper, Trenton and the entire Avengers team - are now all meeting at SI. To discuss a deal Tony has been negotiating for months whilst under the impression that all involved parties were fully informed and fully on board.

Dear god, can’t the team just once try _not_ to make Tony’s life harder than it needs to be?

+++

Tony watches as Steve continues to verbally vent his anger as he paces at the other side of the table. Tony is already sick of listening to the accusations.

They are in one of SI's conference rooms. Tony is sitting between Pepper on his left and Trenton - who has been the most heavily involved in the DIA deal negotiations and was thankfully able to shift his schedule on such short notice to come as well - on his right and the team has taken up the other side of the table with Steve originally sitting in the seat across from Tony and the others spreading out on both sides.

Only Vision is sitting off to the side, having separated himself from the others and watching the happenings with a slight frown on his face.

"How could you just make a decision like that without discussing it with the team first?!" Steve asks angrily - yet again - but at least he finally sits back down in his chair again.

Because according to Steve, somehow - and completely unsurprisingly - this is all Tony's fault.

And Tony just agitatedly runs a hand through his hair but doesn't attempt to respond to Cap's repeated accusations. Steve had talked right over him the first time Tony tried to tell him that he _had_ in fact kept the team informed and Tony is so done with this shit, he is just utterly unwilling to lower himself to the level of trying to yell over another adult in what should be a very serious discussion. So, now Tony is just waiting for Cap's rant to come to some sort of close, so they can then have an actual conversation. You know the grown-up sort.

 _Good god_ , he does not have the patience to deal with this shit right now. Tony only has another hour before his conference call with the Fantastic Four to discuss their take on the Accords. At least with those four he can rely on rational thinking and some damn common sense. Because Susan is the real power behind that team and she is one of the most sensible and compassionate people Tony has the pleasure of knowing.

In direct contrast to Tony's former team, with the leader throwing a damn tantrum and none of the team members speaking up to interrupt Steve's rather lengthy - and so very unproductive - accusatory rant.

Natashalie is just watching everyone as per usual, most likely trying to figure out the best angle for bending the situation to her will. From next to her, Wilson is frowning at Tony accusingly - although Tony really has no idea why, goddammit, he doesn't even know the guy - and the witch is glaring daggers at Tony, Pepper and Trenton in turn - probably hating the latter two simply by association.

As always, they are all happy to let Cap lay the blame for this particular clusterfuck at Tony's feet.

This is just like any other time where Cap is convinced he is right and talks over him until Tony is so damn _tired_ of repeating himself that he simply admits fault where there is none just so he can get out of the damn conversation. And then that admission of guilt is held over his head for-fucking-ever.

Sheesh, his platypus was right. He really let himself be treated like a doormat.

But thankfully _this_ time is different. Because _this_ time, Tony isn't part of the team anymore. _This_ time, Rhodey has successfully driven 'You don't owe those fuckers anything!' through his thick head. And _this_ time, Tony brought _Pepper_.

Whose patience has clearly reached its limit after listening to Steve rant continuously for several minutes.

"Mr. Rogers." She doesn't even raise her voice, but Pepper still easily gathers everyone's attention onto herself.

Well, Cap turns to face her almost angrily, but then falters slightly when confronted with her stern expression.

Pepper continues calmly, "Mr. Rogers, I would very much like for you to calm down, so as to give me a chance to at least respond to your accusations."

Wanda mutters something, but it's too quiet to make out. Although, Tony is just going to assume it's nothing complimentary to him or to Pepper.

Pepper just ignores the witch completely and continues to stare down Captain America.

Who crosses his arms and leans back in his seat. "Please, Ms. Potts, explain to me how Tony could just hand over the Avengers to the government." He looks back towards Tony, saying with less anger but even more recrimination, "We really should have expected something like this when we suddenly couldn't reach you anymore!"

And despite his own anger and frustration at this mess, Tony is starting to actually feel a little baffled at Cap's vehemence and anger.  

Because - putting the question of who is to blame for this mess aside - Tony actually understands why this development might be quite a shock for the team if they really didn't know about him negotiating the deal at all. But on the other hand, it's not like Tony outsourced mission control to just _anyone_. It's the _US government_ for god's sake.

So, Tony is honestly surprised - and even growing slightly suspicious - as to why Steve looks almost frantic at the mere idea of being re-integrated into the US government. This is the same guy who committed several felonies whilst trying to fraudulently join the US military during the last World War. So, why in the world is Cap currently almost panicking at the thought of being under government oversight again?

" _Mr. Rogers_." Pepper repeats. Ah, making Pepper repeat herself is never a good idea.

Steve halts again, but doesn't drop his accusing expression or his intimidating pose. Pepper just looks utterly unimpressed. As the CEO of SI, she has long since become immune to any sort of posturing.

She remains absolutely calm as she says, "Mr. Rogers, ever since Tony started the negotiations for reintegrating the Avengers into the US intelligence agency system all relevant information has been forwarded to you via email."

Steve promptly claims, "I already said, I never saw any emails!"

Now, Pepper's expression is beginning to completely frost over and Tony is suddenly glad that they are having this confrontation without any outsiders present. Lest anyone witness Tony's CEO ramming her high heels down Captain America's throat.

"Mr. Rogers, please stop denying everything out of hand without any thought as to what might have actually _happened_. Clearly there was some sort of miscommunication. Because you have been _replying_ to some of the emails that listed the details of the negotiations. While you definitely didn't reply to _all_ of them and certainly not in a particularly verbose manner, you still undeniably confirmed _your_ and the _team's_ agreement to this arrangement."

Now Cap looks honestly startled. Clearly, Steve had truly no idea what was going on.

Which at least clears up whether this is some sort of ploy. No, Cap just fucked up.

That's something to be grateful for at least. Idiocy from the team - as in replying to emails without reading them - Tony can deal with, at least much better than if it had been intentional sabotage - as in knowing but still claiming ignorance to get their way. But somehow, this revelation only increases Tony's simmering anger.

Tony doesn't even know which part of this situation is making him so very furiously angry, whether it's having Steve immediately start throwing accusations of  heinous intent in his direction without _any_ sort of hesitation, or whether it's his disappointment at the fact that the team had not kept out of the negotiations because they _trusted_ Tony to negotiate the best possible deal for the team. No, they simply hadn't known.

Up until this morning, Tony hadn't even realized that he had finally reached some level of acceptance regarding his role on the team. Seeing as they hadn't interfered with the negotiations at all, Tony had come to grips with the fact that while the team clearly had no interest in keeping in touch with him on a personal level they at least trusted him in his capacity as the team's diplomat and negotiator. Tony could live with that.

So, his disappointment at realizing that the team neither likes him enough to keep in touch nor trusts him enough to do the job he had been doing ever since SHIELD's fall... well, what the fuck is he supposed to do with this revelation?

But seeing as Steve finally seems at least somewhat willing to listen, Tony does his best to calm his seething anger at the entire situation as he says, "Steve, a few days before the deal was finalized I not only sent you an email with the complete document, asking for a final confirmation from you and the team. Which you replied to with something along the lines of 'All is good, thanks for keeping us up to date.'. It was in CC to _all_ involved parties, including _the goddamn President of the United States_."

Steve looks shocked. Whether at Tony's claim or at the obvious anger that bled into that last sentence,  Tony doesn't know and doesn't even particularly care. He breathes out silently trying to calm himself.

Thankfully, everyone is distracted for a few moments by Pepper and Trenton nodding at his sides, confirming his claim. Tony had actually sent that particular email with the specific goal of _avoiding_ a situation like this. Because he still couldn't quite believe that the team was simply okay with the changes, that they would trust Tony to entirely negotiate a deal on their behalf without their input.

He honestly could've done without the vindication of being right for once.

Having found his calm again, he finally continues, "But we also talked on the phone the day before the deal was signed. And I specifically asked you whether you had anything to say about the documents. You said you _didn't_. Everything was finalized the next day."

There is some sort of recognition in Steve's eyes, so clearly he knows what Tony is talking about. Something which also doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the team.

Everyone is silent for a while, clearly uncertain how to react.

And usually, this would be the point where Tony speaks up with some sort of solution to best suit everyone's - read: the team's - needs. But not this time. He already _did_ his best with this deal. And the team can either take it or leave it. It's truly out of Tony's hands - thank the gods - and he is utterly unwilling to put even more time into this. Because this situation just goes to show that it simply doesn't matter how much time and effort Tony puts into helping the team. They will seemingly always be dissatisfied no matter what he puts in front of them. So, why even try?

By now, Cap's expression has changed from accusing and angry to sheepish and earnest. And Tony finally understands what Pepper meant by Steve's 'oh-shucks routine' being rather transparent.

"Ah, recently I haven't really been able to keep up with all of the emails coming in. And I thought your emails were just you checking in. I mean, I figured you would let us know if it was urgent." Cap says sheepishly.

 _You've_ got _to be shitting me._ Tony thinks, contrarily finally feeling most of his anger draining out of him. Only for it to promptly be replaced by frustrated exasperation.

Still, he keeps any exacerbating comments on that particularly idiotic statement to himself and instead just sighs. "Steve, those emails _were_ me 'letting you know'."

Pepper however seems entirely unwilling to even let that excuse stand.

"What do you mean by 'all of the emails', Mr. Rogers? You gave SI an email address to be used _exclusively_ for the most pressing legal and PR concerns. I am not aware of numerous urgent matters having been handled by these two departments over the past weeks."

Heh, Pepper is clearly calling bullshit. Tony barely manages to keep his poker face on.

Steve looks entirely apologetic as he says, "I just haven't had the time recently to look through everything. I've just been too busy to keep up."

Pepper is clearly entirely unimpressed.

In contrast, Trenton is now actually starting to look amused. If he weren't so frustrated, Tony might have even joined him in his amusement at the picture of Pepper perfectly poised in a beautiful white pant suit sitting in front of a flustered Captain America. The power dynamic in that image _should_ be amusing.

As it is, the amusement will have to wait.

Tony sighs inaudibly. Only to promptly receive a reprimanding glance from Natashalie.

_Oh, fuck off._

Tony has neither the time nor the patience to deal with her particular brand of manipulation right now.

So, he just turns away from her. Tony is honestly too exhausted - and his brain working on too many entirely unrelated and honestly much more important topics - to even try to be offended by her somehow blaming him for this.

 _Yeah, let's reprimand the guy who tried to keep everyone happy and forget about the guy who screwed up by not reading his emails and still replying to everything_ , Tony thinks sarcastically, _finally_ feeling his candor return.

There is silence for a few moments.

"So, what now?" Steve finally asks somewhat subdued, of course skipping right over his own screw-up and immediately moving on to asking other people to fix it for him.

_Because god forbid, Cap ever admit out loud that he might have messed up. Or goodness me, even apologize, for screwing up in the first place or for groundlessly accusing someone of doing so._

Wanda once more mutters angrily to herself, shooting an angry look in Tony's direction.

He just takes a page out of Pepper's book and completely ignores her.

Because fact is, the deal is already _done_. Tony asking them for their opinion while the negotiations were still underway, was simply out of courtesy - and to avoid the hassle of dealing with their complaints afterwards, _and look how well that turned out_ \- and not because he actually _needed_ their approval.

He _owns_ the Avengers brand. And thus, it is simply within Tony's rights to outsource aspects of it as he pleases. Dear god, he would never get anything done if he actually needed all of his employees' approval to do anything with his various businesses. Sure, it keeps up moral if he asks for their opinions and even more so if he actually takes them into account, but _legally_ there is nothing requiring him to do so.

Hell, he could sell the Avengers brand entirely without needing their permission. It's not like they are blood-bound to the team or something. They just signed a damn contract. If they really don't like it they can always quit and do their own thing.

Not that they will. Because for one, they _identify_ as Avengers and second and more importantly, it's _comfortable_ being an Avenger. Because leaving the team would also mean leaving all the wonderful perks behind. And yeah, Tony can't see that happening any time soon. Whether wartime veteran from the 40s, military man from the present or disgraced Russian Spy, they have all gotten quite used to the comfort of having Tony's resources so readily available.

So point is, the deal is _done_. And under no circumstances is Tony going to destroy his credibility in DC by pulling out of a deal less than a week after signing it. So, the only question now is how to sell the whole thing to the team.

Thankfully, Tony doesn't actually have to try to come up with something - he doesn't even know if he could right now, stuck somewhere between exhaustion and frustration and disappointment - because this is the point where Trenton decides to integrate himself into the conversation.

"Well, Mr. Rogers, maybe we should ask whether there is anything specific in the documents that you are objecting to?" He asks Cap politely, looking honestly interested.

And Tony keeps his face entirely neutral, not letting any of his amusement show. Because Trenton might _look_ entirely amicable right now, but after working with the man for decades, Tony easily recognizes the mockery in the lawyer's eyes. Everyone here knows that there is no way the team has managed to read - much less understand - the deal since they became aware of it.

But Trenton has always enjoyed making people hang themselves with admissions of their own shortcomings instead of making the effort of pointing them out directly.

Cap clearly doesn't get what the lawyer is doing, because he immediately responds with, "I only just heard about the deal! I haven't yet had the time to read through all the details!"

Which is Cap-speak for, he probably read the summary page on top.

Trenton, the troll, nods and affects a thoughtful expression, "Hm, it seems reasonable to assume that you and your team would want to actually read over the documents detailing the deal first before we discuss any concrete changes?"

Steve promptly looks caught somewhere between anger and embarrassment, at having it pointed out to him that he is currently complaining about something without actually knowing what it _entails_.

Tony barely manages to suppress his grin.

This is Trenton at his best, although not even close to his most vicious. The man has elevated making other people feel like idiots - without ever stating his _own_ opinion on the matter - to an art form.

Trenton calls it his personal hobby.

The lawyer just blithely continues. "Although, I have to say that any objections right now would come at the worst possible time. The documents are already finalized and as such demanding any changes or amendments now would consequently require us to make concessions somewhere else. Especially, as anything included in the agreement has yet to be implemented and tested, so arguing the necessity of any changes will be quite impossible at this point in time."

What a wonderfully eloquent way of saying that their whining at this point in time is entirely unappreciated and utterly useless.

And Tony knows what is coming next. Seeing as the great Captain America has failed to gain complete agreement to their demands, Steve promptly gives Natashalie a look, the signal that it is now - as always - her turn to try.

As predicted, the Black Widow promptly speaks up. "But shouldn't we consider whether it might be easier to go back to the drawing board now that this deal is still fresh in everyone's mind?"

Trenton raises his eyebrows, this time not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "If you mean what your phrasing of 'going back to the drawing board' suggests, namely to entirely scrap the deal and come up with a new one, then no. It seems ridiculous to expect our contract partner to believe that a _new_ agreement would be upheld on your end if the old one was scrapped just a few days after it was signed."

"But we weren't involved in making that deal." Natasha states consolingly. She is even using her best negotiating voice.

Tony's lawyer, however, remains entirely unmoved. He might not have ever been faced with a trained Russian spy before but Trenton is certainly more than used to people trying to use everything at their disposal to make him give so much as an inch.

Trenton simply says, his voice remaining impressively neutral, "Then, might I suggest you actually read it first before any further steps are discussed?"

There is silence.

And Tony has never seen anyone shut down Natashalie this quickly, calmly and efficiently.

Clearly, Trenton deserves something nice. Maybe a raise? Or his own island in the Bahamas? Tony should still have the deeds for one or two islands lying around his office somewhere.

+++

The call connects and immediately two of his screens are filled with the faces of Senior Agent Ponds and Senior Agent Brooke.

Well, at least that is how the two 'agents' had been introduced to Tony during the DIA deal negotiations.

FRIDAY, however, had quickly pointed out that according to the data from their various hacking escapades through government servers, Brooke is actually the Deputy Operations Director of the DIA. And there is not much at all to be found on Ponds, so Tony can't even begin to guess just how high up _he_ must be on the ladder.

"Dr. Stark, you asked for a quick meeting." Ponds greets.

Tony can practically see the polite impatience oozing from both men. These are two people likely just as insanely busy on a day-to-day basis as Tony.

So, he immediately gets to the point, "Yes, thank you for getting back to me on such short notice. I wanted to let you know about some unexpected complications with the Avengers team."

The two 'agents' are watching him expectantly but nothing shows on their faces.

Once that wonderful - and incredibly disappointing - clusterfuck meeting with the team had finally been over, Tony had briefly conferred with Pepper and Trenton, both of whom had agreed that it would be best to let the DIA in on the newest Avenger-related problem. Because the DIA will find out about this mess as soon as they get in contact with the team and it will make a rather bad impression if they think Tony has deliberately kept them in the dark.

Tony had even used the entirety of the conference call with the Fantastic Four to calm down - good lord, how nice it is to talk to rational human beings from time to time - before making the actual call.

So, Tony decided to let Brooke and Ponds in on today's revelation regarding the team's ignorance about the deal - as neutrally as possible - and that the Avengers might thus need some additional time to acclimatize. Also, he will ask the DIA to assign some of their lawyers to help SI legal with explaining the deal to the team, as a chance to better integrate the Avengers with the agency.

And at the same time he also decided not to so much as indicate to _anyone_ that he knows about the Avengers skipping around Europe at any point. The only one aware that Tony even knows anything is FRIDAY, so he is keeping mum on the matter. Either the DIA figures it out themselves or the team gets lucky.

Simply, it's just not Tony's problem anymore. Halle-fucking-lujah.

It will be the last nice thing he does for the team, not ratting them out. After this, he is simply done. And they'll just have to learn how to act like fucking adults. The entirety of the deal will be explained to them in as much detail as they want and if they don't stick to the agreement after that then they will just have to deal with the damn consequences. 

And for that same reason, he is also not going to let them blame this current mess on him. He isn't entirely sure that the team wouldn't try to spin this situation as Tony's screw-up somehow - and doesn't that say a lot about his trust in his former team mates - and he is currently simply investing too much time and too many resources into amassing as much political capital as he possibly can, to risk having the team screw him over now.

The Accords are coming soon and Tony will need every bit of leverage he can get his hands on.

And he is not going to risk his good standing with one of their country's most influential agencies just to cover Steve's inability to read a goddamn email.

Yeah, no more 'Tony will fix it' for the team.

His platypus will be so proud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. What do you think? I know a lot of you already guessed that the team hadn't actually been reading those emails but I hope the initial fallout was still entertaining enough. I tried to keep everyone on the team realistically self-absorbed without letting it turn into actual bashing. But please let me know what you think!  
> There will be some more DIA deal fallout in the next chapters once the team actually rallies some arguments, but I'm planning to at least keep this sort of tone on Tony's side.
> 
> And I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. My muses have recently turned into veritable chatter boxes and instead of speeding things up, I somehow ended up with too many stories in parallel. It is becoming quite difficult to focus on just one story for any decent amount of time, which makes it especially difficult for the more complex ones like this one. I'm really sorry! I'll do my best to go back to the at least semi-regular updates.
> 
> On that note, I have already written quite a bit for the next chapter, so I can definitely promise X-Men to be included in that and hopefully it won't take me as long as this one to finish.
> 
> As always, thank you my lovely, lovely readers for all your comments and kudos! Those really do keep me hooked on writing :) You are awesome!


	11. Continuing intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a scene with the X-Men in the second half of this chapter. The explanation of how I decided to integrate the two 'verses are in the chapter end notes, just in case you want to check that out before reading that scene :)
> 
> And thanks so much to **xfphile** for being such an amazing beta for this chapter!

"Hello?"

Tony swings around, startled, entirely unused to FRIDAY not warning him of anyone showing up in his workshop.

He immediately relaxes again upon seeing Vision hesitating in the doorway. Seems like his girl doesn't see the need to warn Tony of the android's arrival, sees the android as one of them - 'them' being Tony, his bots and FRIDAY, and now apparently Vision.

Which, fair enough.

"Viz! What brings you over to visit little old me?" Tony grins, honestly elated at having his baby boy visit.

It hasn't even been that long since he saw Vision - the 'how-could-you-Tony' get-together with the team having been just two days ago - but it's not like the two of them got to talk during that particularly frustrating conversation. And Tony is always happy to see the android.

Who is looking rather uncertain right now. "I did not mean to startle you," Vision says.

"Oh, no problem," Tony tries to reassure him. "I just didn't know anyone was around."

"Sorry, boss. I'll let you know next time," FRIDAY immediately chimes in, sounding contrite.

Vision nods in agreement, still standing in the doorway and making no move to actually enter the room.

"Really, kids. No worries. At least I'm fully awake again now." He grins.

This just gains him something that almost sounds like a huff from FRIDAY and a frown from the android.

"You are tired?" Vision promptly asks. "Maybe I should come back at a later point in time."

 _Seriously, what's with the fussing?_ Tony has no idea where his kids get it from.

"Oh, no, you don't. This is the perfect distraction. Come, come, sit." Tony enthusiastically waves Vision to the second chair at his terminal.

After another moment of hesitation, Vision finally makes his way over, settling primly onto the chair.

And then the android just sits there, not saying a word.

Tony is at something of a loss on how to proceed, seeing as he can't actually read Vision well enough to know whether he wants Tony to start a conversation or whether he needs silence to work up the nerve to say something in particular.

Several more moments of silence pass and he is already getting fidgety. Well, sitting around and doing nothing never got anyone anywhere.

"So, what brings you here, Viz?" Tony asks encouragingly.

There is another, shorter pause. Then Vision finally, says carefully, "I have found myself at something of a loss in recent days."

Well, that's not _entirely_ helpful in clearing up his confusion, but at least they are getting somewhere.

"Okay. Anything I can help you with?" Tony questions, doing his best to sound encouraging.

The android nods carefully. "I had hoped you might be willing to give me a different perspective on something."

"Sure! You know my door is always open. Quite literally, judging by your unexpected entrance." Tony grins to lighten the atmosphere a little.

It gains him a small smile and then the android seems to finally come to a conclusion. Sitting up even straighter - Tony is amazed that's even possible - Vision says, "Ever since our meeting two days ago, the Avengers have been very angry at you and I find myself uncertain as to the reasoning behind it."

Tony nods, not at all surprised to hear that the team hasn't actually let go of their anger yet, as disappointing as it may be. Truthfully, though, what actually startles Tony is the fact that Vision just said 'the Avengers' instead of 'the _other_ Avengers', as though the android doesn't actually include himself in that. Hm.

"I have tried asking them individually," Vision continues, "But their reasoning seems almost entirely motivated by emotions rather than rational thought. And now I find myself somewhat at a loss."

 _Ah_.

Tony tilts his head, fully aware of the conundrum of a rational thinker trying to understand someone using emotion as basis for their reasoning. That rarely goes well.

So, how to put this diplomatically?

"Ah, well, to put it as positively as I possibly can, they were just shocked at the new development. You know, having the deal with the already finalized DIA just sprung on them."

Vision nods agreeably. "Their initial surprise I can understand, as I myself was surprised to hear of this new arrangement. However, I do not understand why they continue to blame the miscommunication between Captain Rogers and all other involved parties on you. Even more so, they seem to suspect some sort of nefarious purpose behind the contract, something which has not become apparent to me after reading through the documents."

By now, Vision is talking rapidly, almost agitatedly, not letting Tony respond to any of his questions. Clearly, this is truly bothering the android.

"Finally, I find myself confused at their unwillingness to put any part of the blame anywhere _but_ on you. They do not blame the government for their participation in the arrangement, they do not blame Captain Rogers for the miscommunication and they do not blame themselves for their ignorance. Instead, they seem to blame all of those aspects solely on you." A pause. Then the bewildered question, "Why are they only angry at _you_?"

Well. How wonderful. Now Tony is stuck explaining the doormat-syndrome to someone as good and honest and fair as Vision.

And even more, just how do you explain 'doing something wrong for a long time gives it the artificial appearance of it being right' to a highly rational being like Vision?

 

* * *

 

Tony directs the suit to land in front of the admittedly rather impressive mansion.

He has arranged a meeting with Professor Xavier for today and is actually looking forward to it.

It really is a beautiful place and the sprawling grounds guarantee exactly the sort of isolation you need when harboring a group of teenagers with random, unpredictable and uncontrolled powers. Some distance from the neighbors is more than likely a good thing in this instance.

And his decision to show up a little early has nothing at all to do with him dying of curiosity to see the school and its inhabitants. Really. He just wanted to make sure he wouldn't be late. Yes. That sounds generally plausible, right?

Regrettably, by the time he steps out of the suit his welcoming committee - Xavier in his wheelchair at the front, flanked by two adults - has already formed despite his very timely arrival, cleverly hindering his sneaky plans of nosing around.

Shame.

But, well. Tony hadn't honestly expected to be able to just sneak around anyways. He would have been more than a little alarmed if the security of this place was bad enough to somehow miss the sight and sound of a gleaming red and gold metal suit landing on their front lawn.

So, Tony just takes a final glance around at the rather tranquil scenery as he makes his way up to the entrance, coincidentally stalling long enough for FRIDAY to give him a quick rundown on the two people included in his welcoming committee aside from Xavier.

FRIDAY's summary is concise as always.

The woman standing to the left of Xavier's wheelchair is Ororo Munroe a.k.a. 'Storm', her mutation allowing her to manipulate the weather - and how awesome is _that_?

The man to the right is James Howlett, a.k.a. Logan, a.k.a. 'The Wolverine', with a never seen before healing factor, an adamantium skeleton - which is just about the coolest thing _ever_... well, in the top ten at least because, well, _Iron Man_ \- and facial hair that is making Tony maybe, possibly, just the _slightest_ bit jealous.

And yeah, of course he did some research on the X-Men before coming to meet them. Just because he was polite enough to actually announce his visit for once instead of simply sauntering in, doesn't mean he didn't do his homework beforehand.

Tony _always_ takes care to know as much as he possibly can about everyone he meets, a carryover of his arms dealer days, where you most certainly had to know _exactly_ just who you were talking to at any given moment - and whether they are more likely to use your tech to protect the free world or to try to tear it apart.

Such diligence is simply part of the job description.

So, yeah. And while FRIDAY might not have a file on every single person living at this mansion, she definitely gathered a fair amount of information about the more prominent ones. Hey, if people want to keep their abilities hidden, they shouldn't go gallivanting around and showcasing them to the world at large.

FRIDAY concludes her quick summary and falls silent again. Tony had already read through most of those files so he is somewhat familiar with the information but it was certainly a good reminder _and damn, Mutants are just so much more_ interesting _than us ordinary humans._

Reaching the door and his welcoming committee, Tony gives a jaunty wave in greeting, "Hello, Professor Xavier. And his hyper-evolved compatriots."

Logan only snorts around the unlit cigar in his mouth but Munroe is already frowning - ah, such disapproval after just a few words from him. God, Tony hopes she isn't one of those people with media-based, preconceived notions about him. That would make his visit here even more stressful than it already is.

Well, at least the Professor smiles genially. "Dr. Stark. Thank you for coming by. I have been looking forward to your visit."

"As have I, Professor. As have I," Tony replies with a nod, letting his sincerity show.

Xavier then turns to introduce the two mutants standing on either side of him. "Let me introduce two the teachers at my school, Munroe and Logan."

There is a round of polite nodding and Tony is just glad that no one is reaching out to shake his hand. God, it would be awkward having to explain that his refusal to shake their hands has nothing to do with them being mutants and is entirely due to Tony's various - entirely mutant-unrelated - neuroses.

Instead, he just looks around and says, "Quite impressive what you have built here, Professor. The pamphlets say integration is all the rage at this place."

It really _is_ impressive. And Tony in no way means just the building or the sprawling grounds surrounding the mansion. He is very much talking about the institution itself, a refuge for children in need, a place for people to find shelter in every meaning of the word.

Xavier just smiles. "Thank you. It is inherited land. I was very fortunate to have been given the means."

Tony lets a grin overtake his face. Nuanced conversation, what fun.

"Oh yes, I do know what that is like," Tony replies. "But, then again, _having_ the means does not really count for anything at all, now does it, Professor?"

The look in the Professor's eyes warms further. "Indeed, Dr. Stark. Indeed."

Huh, would you look at that. Someone who understands. How nice.

+++

Sadly, Tony doesn't get the tour he had hoped for and instead the four of them make their way straight to what is clearly the Professor's office.

Of course, he cranes his head this way and that on the way there, trying to get a better look of the inside of the Mansion.

Xavier pretends not to notice, Logan watches him with a raised eyebrow and Munroe looks on rather disapprovingly. But, well, disapproval has never stopped him from anything before in his life. No reason to change that now.

Once they get to the office, FRIDAY immediately sets to scanning the room for bugs without being prompted - _they grow up so fast_ \- to make sure that there is no one listening in. Well, at least as much as she can, considering they are in a building full of mutants, so who knows whether there is anyone with enhanced hearing or anything of the sort. But that is something Tony can't really do anything about.

So far, no one has even mentioned anything about mutations or special abilities of any sort. The two teachers weren't even introduced with their codenames.

But he understands caution and, well, he's also got more important shit to talk about than what weather manipulation feels like or asking Logan whether his healing factor has his hair grow back immediately if he cuts it.

At least he knows that Storm and Wolverine have worked with Professor Xavier for years and are thus clearly deemed trustworthy. Tony is fine with including them in this conversation. He doesn't have entirely reliable information on the numbers, but he definitely knows that the adults are far outnumbered by the children seeking refuge here. So, getting the teachers up to speed as well might actually be a good idea.

FRIDAY gives the all-clear in regards to any listening devices, but she points out three teenaged eavesdroppers - students of the school, most likely - apparently hiding in the bushes underneath the windows outside.

And normally Tony would absolutely applaud their mischief-making ways - might even help them along - but not today. There is simply too much as stake to risk letting a couple of gossipy teenagers in on the incredibly sensitive information he is about to share here.

Because the fact that Tony knows about the Accords at all is still very much a secret, not to even mention the fact that he is bringing the superhero community in on it. The only people aside from Tony himself, who know anything about this are FRIDAY, his two lawyers, Rhodey - as his conscience, moral compass and common sense - and those enhanced that Tony himself has specifically let in on it. No one else. And he intends to keep it that way for as long as he possibly can.

Even the choice of who exactly is brought in on the secret is carefully made, vetted and re-evaluated by anyone in-the-know because Tony can't even risk informing the wrong people in the superhuman community to avoid anyone running to the press before he is ready.

Tony wants everyone to have a chance to form their own opinion on the Accords, to then voice that opinion freely within their group and then finally, by collecting everyone's voices to ultimately let every single one of them as well as their community as a collective to have a say as the Accords proceed.

And if word got out now, for one, Tony would immediately lose a lot of his currently amazingly good standing with the UN and secondly, they might even try to speed up the release of the Accords to preempt any interference from his end.

And that is something Tony needs to avoid at all costs, because at this point, quite literally every single day counts, and the longer he can stay under the radar, the more time he will have to bring in more enhanced, expanding their group and thus ultimately giving their individual voices more weight.

So, the three marauders hiding in the bushes have got to go play in a different sandbox well out of earshot.

But before Tony can so much as open his mouth to point out said troublemakers, there is some rustling and suddenly three teenagers - two boys, one girl - are grinning at them through the windows, before promptly making themselves scarce.

Well, now Tony is suspicious. There is _no way_ those kids just decided to give up their hiding spot out of the goodness of their heart, without being at least prompted to do so. Why would they?

He raises his eyebrows at the Professor.

It only gains him a suspiciously placid expression in return, but after a few moments Xavier concedes with a smile, "I have a, let's say, direct line of communication to all of my students."

Tony breathes out and ruthlessly pushes down the pulse of ice-cold fear that immediately winds itself down his spine. Memories of end-of-the-world visions and it's-all-your-fault nightmares immediately crowding his overactive brain.

Instead, he forces himself to just keep going, forces his mind to just continue running, forces himself to completely ignore this newest revelation, a confirmation of what Tony had already been dreading.

Because based on the various reports FRIDAY dug up, Tony had already been wondering just what _exactly_ Xavier's powers are. Sure, empathy fits well enough at first glance, but not once you look _closer_.

So, another telepath then?

Just fucking wonderful.

He absolutely _hates_ the thought that someone might be in his head right now, _hates_ not being able to trust his own mind, _hates_ to have to doubt his emotions.

But, it's not like he can actually do anything about it, now is it?

God, this sucks. But Tony _needs_ these people, needs their support so he can get another step closer to achieving his goal with the Accords. He can freak out at this particular revelation once he is back in his suit and on his way home.

He tries not to clench his teeth at the icy fear in his veins and instead just raises his eyebrows at the Professor. "Should we have this conversation in _private_ then?"

Now, everyone is frowning, looking either surprised - maybe at Tony immediately figuring out that the good Professor can read minds - or worried - most likely because it's supposed to be a secret.

Well, Logan's frown is definitely from worry. Although, whether it's at Tony knowing something he shouldn't or at something else, Tony couldn't say and honestly doesn't give much of a damn about at the moment.

Tony is quite busy with actively not-panicking, thank you very much.

Although, the situation gets even stranger when the Professor then glances over at Logan, clearly communicating silently and then turns back to Tony with an even more pronounced frown.

"Dr. Stark, let me assure you that I am in full control of my powers and will not enter anyone's mind without their express permission." A pause, a slight head-tilt and then the refreshingly honest addition of, "Unless I deem it a true necessity and even then never without warning."

Well, at least no one is insulting him by denying it.

But, well. How did they figure out that Tony is awash with cold panic right now, if there _isn't_ anyone in his head at the moment?

Tony knows that his poker face is perfect - he would've long since gotten taken for all he has if he couldn't bluff his way out of _any_ situation - and if the good Professor truly isn't reading his mind - and Tony is just going to give the man the benefit of the doubt here, his gut feeling telling him he can trust him to at least not lie to his face - then that only leaves his emotions. And the thought of an empath reading and possibly even fiddling with his emotions doesn't reassure Tony at all. If anything, it makes matters _worse_.

However, seeing as they are clearly trying to go with honesty here - which he applauds enthusiastically - he can at least try to get an answer. But not entirely trusting himself not to sound too harsh, too aggressive, too accusing right now, he just raises his eyebrows in an obvious question.

It's not the Professor who answers him, however.

Instead, Logan gives a snort. "I can smell your panic, bub. So, how about toning it down? It's making my nose itch."

That promptly earns the gruff man an exasperated look from both Munroe and the Professor. But Tony feels his dread lessen slightly.

Huh.

Tony suddenly remembers reading something about enhanced senses in Logan's file.

Well, alright then. Smelling emotions is apparently a thing, who knew?

Tony nods - whether in acceptance or in thanks for the explanation he himself doesn't quite know, as he is currently running somewhat on auto-pilot - and forces his thundering heart to slow down.

Okay.

So, someone who can read his emotions - he'll have to get right on that once he is back in the workshop, maybe a thin nano-tech layer covering his skin to prevent all body odor, or maybe just a scent-nullifying perfume of some sort - and someone who can read his mind.

Well, isn't this just fucking perfect? Two of his greatest fears gathered in one room. Now they just need to make it incomprehensibly dark and mind-numbingly cold to properly simulate space and Rhodey will have to visit him in the nuthouse from now on.

Then Tony almost lets out an hysterical snort, realizing that Munroe can probably do just that with her powers.

Seriously, what the fuck even _is_ today? Did he run over a puppy yesterday or why is the universe currently trying its best to so very effectively fuck with his head?

But, he has bluffed his way through worse - the Ten Rings are still the best example of Tony being perfectly capable of bullshitting no matter the situation - and he'll make it through this conversation as well.

And once this is over, once he is back in his suit, he'll call Rhodey on the way home and he knows his platypus will immediately realize something is wrong and then just keep talking to keep him away from that edge that leads _down down down_ into that place of terror and fear and helplessness, the same place that led to Ultron.

Maybe Tony can even fly to visit Rhodey on base later instead of going to his empty penthouse where there is nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. He can just claim it's for maintenance of the Iron Patriot or something to appease the brass.

Yeah, that sounds good. He'll just have to make it through this conversation and everything will be fine.

Tony briefly clenches his teeth and then forcefully loosens the tension in his shoulders, takes a breath and lets it out again, shoving the fear into a far corner of his mind to fall apart over later.

Instead, he repeats his question from before, his voice maybe a little more gruff than before, "Getting back to what I was saying, I have something of a truly sensitive nature to discuss with you. It concerns you and also everyone in this school, but a certain level of secrecy is of the utmost importance."

Because assuming the good Professor is in fact telling the truth and hasn't actually been digging around his head, then the man shouldn't yet have any idea why exactly Tony is here.

Xavier nods, although still frowning at him worriedly, which does nothing to alleviate Tony's aggravation. He doesn't like being coddled, never has, never will, irreverent of whether the concern is actually justified or not.

Thankfully, the Professor just replies to his question with, "I gathered as much from your wish to arrange a meeting in person. However, if this affects everyone at this school, I would prefer to include Ororo and Logan in this discussion from the start."

He sounds cautious as he speaks, probably rather taken aback by Tony's strong reaction to his particular brand of powers.

And he even feels for the man. It can't be easy to be born with a power that instantly makes people fear you, doubt you, distrust you. Tony would love to be able to be different, would love to be able to just shut off the fear - because for some reason he truly believes this man when he says that he isn't in Tony's head - but that's just it. For Tony, it _isn't_ just normal fear. No, Tony's fear is from actual _trauma_ \- whether acknowledged by his previous team or not - and that is not something you can simply _decide_ to shut off.

But as they are all adults and everyone is actually doing their best to get along, Tony tries to inconspicuously take another calming breath - pushing all other thoughts aside - and then just goes for it.

"Alright then. The reason I asked for a meeting is fairly simple. Recently, it has come to my attention that the governments of this world are currently working on a set a legislation specifically tailored to everyone with even somewhat superhuman powers." He pauses, considers what he just said and amends, "On second thought, it is anything _but_ simple."

The room is completely silent.

Then Logan reaches up to finally remove the unlit cigar from his mouth, Munroe clenches her fists and Xavier is watching him with sharp eyes.

But no one actually says anything, clearly waiting for him to continue.

So, he obliges. "The original set of legislation was actually proposed to the UN, but by now most countries have started working on their own version of the documents. They are calling it the Sokovia Accords."

The Professor is still watching him intently, clearly trying to figure out Tony's intentions. Well, either the man is an incredible actor or he had really been telling the truth about not digging through Tony's head at any point. What a fucking relief.

The silence in the office is rather pressing. Finally, Xavier says, "I have not heard of these Accords before."

Tony shrugs and gives a smile he knows is anything but jovial. "Well, the Accords _might_ still be an entirely unofficial piece of legislation, which I _might_ have gotten wind of long before its official announcement and I _might_ then have gone digging for whatever was available on the documents in various countries. I also might have gotten several lawyers to preemptively work on sniffing out any less-than-savory paragraphs and formulating counterarguments to those that simply cannot be allowed to pass into legislation _anywhere_. You know, hypothetically speaking."

At the end of Tony's brief rant, the Wolverine looks a little less feral and the Professor even looks somewhat relieved.

"What exactly do these Accords say?" Munroe asks. She is still frowning at Tony but he gets the feeling that it isn't directed at him anymore.

See, Tony can definitely understand why these people would be especially nervous about something like this. Of everyone included in the Accords, mutants will most likely be the most affected group. Anything written for _any_ group of superhumans, enhanced or even remotely-non-mundane will likely apply at least for some mutants out there. And they are born with their superhuman abilities, no choice or circumstance about it, so the Accords have a very realistic potential of putting a stranglehold on mutants from the moment of their birth.

"Well, there truly seem to be good intentions underlying the original document. It was all about defining people with unusual abilities, those born with them and those who gained them later on in life, as _human_. Giving them the same rights and protections that come with that inclusion. By now the UN panel working on the Accords has broadened their scope to also specify some restrictions and protections specifically for the superheroing variety of enhanced, for example, giving them similar legal protection as normal law enforcement if they officially sign on as crisis responders. And most recently, the UN also started specifically discussing the rights of superhumans _not_ to use their powers."

There is a pause.

"That really doesn't sound bad at all," Munroe finally responds carefully, but her expression says she's clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop. This woman obviously knows that nothing in life is ever that one-sided, that easy, that convenient.

No matter how much you might wish it were.

Tony nods, regrettably having to confirm her unvoiced suspicions. "Yeah, but by now several not-so-altruistic pieces of legislation have made their way onto the list. Most of those are only being considered in individual countries and will likely be vetoed for the UN at large. But sadly, that is not true for all of them. And some of those proposals are rather horrific."

He pauses for a moment, giving them the chance to let that sink in before he finally gets to his true purpose for being here. "It is still hard to tell just what exactly the Accords will contain because most aspects are still up in the air at this point. So, this is me trying to get a head start."

"And how exactly are you planning to do that?" Xavier asks after several moments of silence.

And that right there, that is the million-dollar question, isn't it?

His quick monologue a few moments ago already made it clear that he is not planning to take up arms in order to fight the Accords in their entirety. But there are still several ways Tony could potentially deal with this.

He could gather any and all support - which is really nothing to scoff at considering the sort of pull he has in the world - and stand against the Accords. Or he could entirely support the Accords, see where it leads and if worse comes to worst, Tony could still simply take off his suit, return to life as an ordinary citizen and let everyone else deal with the fallout. Or he could try to change it to suit himself best, or to suit everyone best, or to suit the government best or the economy or any other factor he pleases. Tony _has_ that sort of power in the world. He knows it and everyone else knows it, even if most people like to pretend differently.

So, this is the moment to sell his side of the argument to these people.

But, how to go about that? Because they really are a frustratingly closed-off group of people and Tony hasn't been able to get much of a read on them at all. He really wishes someone - _anyone_ \- would give him an indication of which side they might fall on.

However, going by what he has seen so far, these three at least seem like rather rational people. So, it might be best to just be as honest as possible and deal with the potential fallout later on.

In for a penny, and all that.

"I found out about the Accords several weeks ago and since then, I have been gathering support from superhumans, enhanced and anyone else who might be even generally affected by this set of legislation. Mainly, I am hoping to establish a line of communication between enough of us that neither the UN nor our own governments will be able to simply shove the Accords down our throats 'as is' by approaching us individually but have to deal with us as a community."

No reactions beyond a slightly tilted head from Munroe and a nod from Xavier. Logan is just watching him - rather unnervingly, to be honest - but isn't giving any indications about his thoughts on their current topic of conversation.

Poker-faces all around. So, onward then.

"Ultimately, I want superhumans to really come forward as just that, as a _community_. I want us to show enough of a united front that we and any input we might have on matters that concern us cannot be ignored, that we would have enough weight to actually _change_ some of the Accords to at least be acceptable and possibly even be to our _benefit_. I'm convinced that if the superhuman community stands together on this, we would have a real shot at that."

There.

That's all he can really say.

Now he can do nothing but wait for their reaction.

After a few moments of contemplative silence, Xavier states rather than asks, "You plan to put your support behind these Accords."

Tony nods. "With the _express_ condition of being directly included in the process of amending them. And unless something about the situation drastically changes, of course. But, yes."

Xavier nods, clearly understanding what Tony is saying. Namely, that he is going to use the goodwill gained from supporting the legislation to change the Accords into something _good_ , something the enhanced _and_ the non-enhanced can live with.

"What about those in our community who are not willing to support the Accords or might even take an active stand against it?" Xavier asks then.

And there is something more to that question, Tony can hear it in the man's voice. And god, he hopes Xavier isn't already planning to oppose Tony on this. He really has been putting a lot of hope into getting the man's support.

But, well. You can't win everyone. Tony will deal either way.

So, he says honestly, "I would love some additional support in this, because the more superhumans who stand together on this, the more power we will have to _change_ it. But the Accords are not yet official, probably won't be for at least several weeks, possibly months. So, I would ask everyone, even or _especially_ those who decide to directly oppose the Accords, to give me input on any amendments or changes they would want make to those documents, so I can still work on integrating their concerns in case the Accords _do_ come to pass."

Here, Logan finally speaks up for the first time, saying gruffly. "That's quite the commitment."

Tony grins. "I have nothing against the _idea_ of the Accords. I even think it would be a good thing to have definite legislation in place that defines enhanced as humans. But there _are_ politicians involved, and even now they are discussing some proposals which are entirely unacceptable. So, I can also understand if someone wants to stand against this. But this is the sort of legislation that can change an entire group's situation within society for _decades_ to come. For the better or for the worse. I just want to have all angles covered and to make sure that, whatever happens in the end, _everyone_ can live with it, enhanced _and_ non-enhanced."

Tony sighs - god, he is so tired - but continues, "Although, honestly, unless superhumans are willing to go to actual, all-out war with the world over this or unless something in the worldwide political climate changes drastically, I don't think we have an actual chance of stopping these Accords from coming to pass. There are already about a hundred countries either directly working on the documents, or at least supporting them. Even if we could convince some of them to pull their support, I honestly don't think it would make much of a difference at this point."

He pauses for a moment here, takes a drink from the water that had been offered to him at the beginning of their talk to soothe his by now rather sore throat. Then he keeps going. Because the next part is probably the most contentious part of his entire argument.

"And I think this sort of legislation can actually be a _good_ thing, might even be long overdue, to be honest. I really think it could be something to build on, a foundation for the full integration of anyone enhanced into society. But it will be a lot of work to tweak it into something that gives superhumans the legal rights and protections necessary to not only balance out any imposed restrictions, but also to keep a balance between letting us do what we need to as well as letting us simply live our lives. Just like the law does for normal people." He concludes his statement with a breath.

And then there is silence. For a while, no one speaks a word, as the three mutants clearly consider the information given to them.

And finally, the Professor gives a rather decisive nod and asks Tony for a more comprehensive summary of the Accords in their entirety and any amendments that he is already working on.

Well, at least that's not a refusal to work with him out of hand.

And really, he'll take what he can get.

So, Tony takes a deep breath. This is going to take a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update, but the X-Men really gave me some trouble... Hope you liked their introduction though, because I think they'll be showing up quite a bit in this fic. I just really like the idea of the Professor and Logan working with Tony :)
> 
> And now for the X-Men timeline: I really tried to figure out something that would work with all the X-Men movies, but turns out the timeline really is an utter mess. Thank you so much for all your comments on that, it was nice to know that it wasn't just me who couldn't figure it out XD And thus, I just decided to simply mix and mesh however I please :D
> 
> So, to summarize: This will be the Days of Future Past timeline (as in no killing of Trask because that would screw everything up for the Accords) but without actual timetravel being involved (I'm convinced that Tony motherfucking Stark would have long since figured out how to timetravel if it were at all possible in this 'verse ^^). This will also be set before the first X-Men movie (as in no attack on the world's leaders for the same reason as above) and therefore, this is set somewhere between the first and the second crew of X-Men, so feel free to picture Prof X either as a slightly older James McAvoy or as a slightly younger Patrick Stewart (same will apply for Magneto and Mystique). Just go with whichever you prefer, because either will work :)
> 
> Also, Apocalypse didn't happen here (again, same reason as above), but I'm mostly using the X-Men crew from that movie (just as a reference of which characters to picture at which age). Hm, I still haven't quite figured out how to fit Quicksilver into all of this, but I quite like his character so I'll try to keep him.
> 
> For the teachers, Storm and Hank are adults here (as in the original X-Men movies), but Jean and Scott are kids (I think XD). And then there is Logan, who is honestly the worst to figure out (what with the memory losses, the experimentation, being cloned, being imprisoned, willing and unwilling seclusion, traveling across the world, traveling through time and so on). So, to avoid all of that the Logan here will mostly be based on the one from Days of Future Past (again without actual timetravel), meaning he already worked through his various memory losses and traumas, is a good friend to Prof X's and got most of his shit figured out. Don't know yet whether Laura will be a thing here (feel free to give your opinion on that, though ^^)...
> 
> So, there.
> 
> Sorry for the absurdly long author's note but I hope this clears up what I'm going for with the X-Men. Feel free to let me know if anything is unclear or if you have any notes on that :)
> 
> And thank you so so much for all your comments and kudos (*^^*) You guys are simply amazing!


	12. Assembling intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has multiple unspecified time skips. Just as a warning :)
> 
> And thanks so much to **girlgamer** and **Ekzentrik_Lohner** for taking the time to discuss the differences between Marvel and DC with me. Turns out, this fic will be exclusively Marvel after all. Sorry, to anyone who was hoping to see the Justice League and Tony interact :)

"Dr. Stark, thank you for taking the time to see us."

"Thank you for having me." Tony nods at the panel of the PDC, the UN Planetary Defense Committee.

The PDC was formed only days after Tony's Ultron statement at the UN reminding them of the very real possibility of another alien invasion. Every single UN member is part of the PDC and even unofficial representatives from some of the non-recognized nations are included.

Well, it's about protecting their entire planet. Everyone damn well better be involved in this shit.

It's a pretty diverse panel all things considered. Because every meeting, scientists, strategists and military tag along with the delegates from all over the world, supposed to help evaluate any steps taken. Thus, the full assembly of the PDC can be rather messy, often devolving into arguments between the brass over strategies in battles that might never take place, fights between politicians about funding and scientists proposing utterly brilliant as well as utterly harebrained ideas of how to protect their planet.

But at least, the world is finally coming together on this and it's kind of heartening to see just how fast humanity as a whole can push through resolutions, make advancements, disregard something as irrelevant as finances if it is about defending themselves against a possible threat from the outside.

However today - and to Tony's relief - there only seems to be the leading panel of the twelve voted-in representatives and a small smattering of others present. So, maybe there's actually a chance Tony might make it back to the Tower before dark.

The delegate at the center of the half-moon shaped table at the front of the room speaks up, "The main reason for this meeting today is because we would like to hear your personal assessment of the current planetary protection projects. Are you familiar with the three main projects? The portal detection, the space probe array and the protection forcefields?"

Tony nods, keeping his face neutral.

Well, duh. Of course he is 'familiar' with the plans. He has been directly involved in the development of the technological aspects of all three projects ever since the politicians finally managed to generally agree on a few options.

"Could you give us your assessment of their overall viability?"

Tony nods, "The projects are definitely viable, all three of them."

Yeah, no way is he giving them the easy way out they are looking for. Because Tony knows exactly why they asked him to be here today. And it's definitely not only for his scientific assessment of the projects.

Sure, they asked Tony to be here because of his unique position of being familiar with an unusual wide array of scientific fields - letting him assess projects that concern themselves with entirely different fields - but mainly they want his opinion on the feasibility of actually implementing them on a worldwide scale.

Because scientists can come up with some awesome shit, but Tony's lot thinks on the level of ideas, of discoveries. Science does not halt once a question is solved, but always always presses on. Once the discovery is made, the idea formulated, the technology designed and tested and possibly optimized, science simply moves on to the next potentially groundbreaking question. It is in the very nature of science itself.

And thus, scientists very rarely concern themselves with how to make their discoveries available to the population at large and they most certainly do not consider the problems that come with mass production, especially on a worldwide scale.

Like the funding that is required for large-scale production, or that you need factories for that sort of throughput, or that those factories need to be built and equipped as required. Like the fact that you cannot produce anything en masse in a single factory building but rather need to establish a production line, while drawing on the particular expertise available in different parts of the world and outsourcing as needed.

Although honestly, very few people actually consider just how many elements there are to be considered when talking about mass production.

So, yeah. Tony knows exactly why this panel asked him to be here. He is here for his familiarity with the scientific matter, with mass producing newly invented technology, for his contacts all over the world not only in the scientific fields but also in the engineering community, in companies, for his access to resources of any kind.

And then there is the fact that they want him to pick just one project, so they can focus on one thing in particular and leave the rest for later. But in Tony's eyes that is entirely unacceptable.

"Which of the three would you recommend to primarily proceed with?"

Ah, there we go.

Tony cracks his metaphorical knuckles and prepares for an exhausting, lengthy argument. "I actually agree with the assessment of Dossen and Lawry that we would need to at least prepare a two-fold approach. All three projects are viable in themselves but in order to speed up building at least a first line of planetary defense it would certainly make sense to reduce the workload. However, preparing only one approach would be wholly insufficient and even somewhat obsolete. Preferably, I would even suggest just going ahead with all three, but since time is also a factor here, I would suggest going ahead with two."

A few of the delegates - not all of them, thank god - are frowning and Tony can already see the protests forming.

Two projects means twice the time, twice the resources, twice the funding.

Politicians and their stupid fucking money. Tony just wants to sigh.

 

* * *

 

"Hey, kid. How was your week?" Tony greets Peter with a smile.

"Great," Peter exclaims. "I mean it was okay but now it's great, because I'm here at Stark Tower with you and so yeah, it's great." The Spiderling just rambles on and within a few minutes has meandered his way into three different topics at once.

Tony just nods along, easily following the conversation and always happy to listen to Peter's chatter. They can do their newly instated weekly debriefing once the kid has finished telling him about his week.

Tony is already looking forward to hearing how the Spiderling's science fair thing went. Well, Tony might have cheated and already checked right after it finished - feeling almost ridiculously proud when he saw that Peter won first price - but no need to tell the kid that Tony's curiosity got the better of him.

Instead, he just smiles and listens to the kid chatter on.

 

* * *

 

"Tones?" Rhodey asks. "You alright?"

It's their Saturday night dinner and Tony knows he has been somewhat absent for most of it.

He has been pre-occupied with a certain thought, which has been playing in his head for a while now. Or more specifically, ever since he realized that the Spiderling is definitely a genius but if he hadn't met Tony would probably have had to wait several years until he finally got access to the sort of sponsorship that would let him learn to his heart's content.

Because that's one of the very few things in Tony's life that had been _easy_.

With his family name and his father's enjoyment of showing off - be it by being more successful or by having a smarter kid than everyone else - Tony's education had always been sponsored. And when he had shown aptitude for engineering, had shown his genius, he had promptly been carted off to the best schools of the English-speaking world.

Same with college. Every single college would have taken him immediately, no application necessary. He was a Stark and he was a genius. Everyone wanted a piece of that.

But for normal kids, actually being recognized as a genius before college isn't really a given. The US school system has been minimalized to such a level that it is a little embarrassing when compared to some of the other countries. Proving yourself smart enough to get through the course material quicker than everyone else definitely doesn't necessarily make you a genius. Just above average.

Well, unless you are the finish-high-school-at-the-age-of-ten, super-genius sort of smart. Of course, those kids are always easily spotted.

But for the normal kind of genius, it usually starts with a teacher who thinks that a student is particularly smart and has the kid take some tests and then it just snowballs from there.

But even if you _are_ recognized as a genius there still aren't that many options to go from there. Funding is hard to come by and even if that is solved, who would want to send their twelve year old to college?

Well, except for Tony's parents.

Or what about kids who are just really smart, not actual, certifiable geniuses. Or those who just excel in one specific area, more like a talent than traditional genius. Yeah, those kids are easily overlooked.

And what about kids who are genius smart but who aren't interested in the traditional fields like math or physics. The ones who like the interdisciplinary fields, like engineering or biotechnology or bioengineering or nanotechnology. The kids like Tony.

Or like Peter, who is definitely genius smart but clearly doesn't try to advertise it. Who has a knack for sciences - that netting really did take Tony a bit to figure out - but not purely the traditional ones. Or someone like Harley who is already showing more promise in engineering than most adult scientists Tony knows.

This has been plaguing Tony. Because, yeah, of course he will make sure that Peter and Harley specifically will get all the support and funding and opportunities they will ever need. But what about all the other kids just like them?

So, Tony has been playing with some ideas for helping those kids. Ideas, which he wants to run by the three people whose opinion he values more than anyone else's.

"I have something to run by you," he finally responds to Rhodey's question, immediately gathering his friends' entire attention unto himself.

For once, none of them make any jokes about Tony seeking input from them being a sign of the apocalypse or anything of the sort, showing just how well they can read him, can see just how serious he is about this.

"I've been thinking about starting a system for offering internships and scholarships to kids with aptitude in any traditional or non-traditional scientific fields," Tony says.

There is a pause.

Then Pepper raises her eyebrows in clear interest, Happy grins and Rhodey just leans back in his seat, all three of them obviously more than ready to listen to his ideas.

Good lord, does he love his friends.

 

* * *

 

"And this is one of the training rooms." Tony holds the door open, so everyone can stick their noses into the room.

He is currently showing a small group of DIA agents around the Compound.

They finally got around to that guided tour - with Tony metaphorically handing over the keys of the Compound to the DIA - despite the delay brought about by the team's ignorance of the deal and thus having to bring them up to speed.

But as far as Tony knows, everything is done now on that end - he honestly didn't check, not wanting to fall into that rabbit hole of trying to smooth things over for the team - and now they can finally proceed as planned.

Tony still owns the Compound but they had agreed early on during the negotiations that the deal would include access to the Compound for the DIA. Supposedly for the sake of inter-unit cooperation but Tony suspects it's more about the state-of-the-art training facilities. And Tony might have stumbled onto the DIA's servers at some point, thus he is well aware of DIA higher-ups planning to ask Tony about possibly stationing a small rotating contingent of agents here.

Which sounds good to Tony. The Compound is ridiculously large for just the Avengers. They can easily house a few agents. Or a hundred.

And promoting this sort of inter-unit communication between the Avengers and other agents of the DIA actually sounds like a good idea.

So, now Tony has a posse of agents following him around like ducklings. Pepper and Trenton are bringing up the rear, seemingly in a rather intense discussion about _something_ \- possibly world domination going by the glint in their eyes - with their heads bent over the tablet Pepper is holding in her hands.

Although, for some _godforsaken_ reason the team still hasn't shown up to their supposed meet-and-greet, despite having been informed of their visit days ago.

It's strange, considering that neither Cap nor Natasha are the kind to miss an opportunity to make a good first impression, especially if it concerns people they maybe had to work with in the future.

Of course, whenever Tony does it it's called ass-kissing but for themselves they like to refer to it as 'ensuring a good working relationship'.

 _Hypocrites_ , the whole damn lot of them.

Tony doesn't let any of his thoughts show on his face as he continues his running commentary,  "There are training areas for long-range as well as close combat, gyms, swimming facilities, a running track. You know, the whole shebang."

Agent Nesson - a younger guy, top of his class and possibly one of the future liaisons to the Avengers - nods rather enthusiastically. They already visited the conference rooms, the gallery, the living quarters, the medical facilities, the common areas and now the training rooms.

Tony is running out of things to show them.

_Just where the fuck is the team?_

Tony keeps the frown off his face, even as he answers any and all questions being thrown at him about the facilities and leads their group back towards the common areas.

And then, finally, there are hurried footsteps and Steve calls after them, "Tony!"

Tony turns around - suppressing a sigh of relief at seeing that the entire team has shown up as requested after all - and nods a greeting at the team before promptly starting introductions.

He can't wait to get this over with, so he can finally hand over all responsibility to the DIA and thus wash his hands of any direct connections to the team entirely.

Hopefully for good this time.

 

* * *

 

"Thank you Susan, for getting these back to me so quickly. I'll keep your team up to date regarding any new additions," Tony says as he scans through the amended version of the Accords, Susan just emailed him.

This is already the third round of corrections with the Fantastic Four, who always get the documents back to him not only with sensible notes of additions or concerns over specific paragraphs, but also a priority-sorted list of things they would like to see in some way addressed in the Accords.

It's so nice to be working with rationally thinking human beings, Tony can't even put it into words.

"Thanks, Tony. There really wasn't much to add. Your lawyers did a wonderful job of addressing our concerns from last time. The only major point we added this time is Johnny's concern about another situation like the Silver Surfer."

"And I completely agree." Tony nods. "It absolutely makes sense to include some sort of amendment addressing not only how to deal with crimes committed by aliens invading but also how our laws for coercion would apply in those cases. Thanks for bringing that up."

On her screen, Susan smiles at him, "You are very welcome. And please let me know if there is anything at all I can do to help."

"Will do, Susan. Will do." He smiles in return. Tony kind of adores working with Susan. Working with someone who _gets_ it.

 

* * *

 

"Tony, this is my friend Erik Lehnsherr. Erik, this is Tony Stark," Xavier introduces while gesturing between them.

Tony returns the newly introduced man's nod as they both blatantly size each other up.

The guy wears an expression like the entire world is beneath him. And it's definitely a mask well crafted because Tony can't actually see beyond it and the only thing giving away that there must be more to this man is the Professor's warm introduction of him.

Finally, the tall mutant hums and says, "Hm, you don't look like much." 

It sounds like an insult - especially in that tone - but it's said like a compliment. Like this man is well aware why looking like less than you are can definitely be something to strive for.

Clearly, this is someone who understands the value of wearing masks, of presenting yourself in a certain way to the world at large and then using their misconception for your largest possible benefit.

And Tony so loves meeting people who know how to play the game.

"Thank you," he returns with a toothy grin.

His reply gets him a half-smirk, as the look in the other man's eyes only gets sharper.

Tony can already tell, he is probably going to love and loathe working with this guy in equal measure.

 

* * *

 

"Stark, good to see you walking these halls again. How does it feel to be back at your alma mater?" His old professor from MIT falls into step next to him.

"Oh, you know that I have very fond, science-related and even fonder, science-unrelated memories of this place, Martins." Tony grins.

His old professor grins in response, "Indeed. The scotch in my office mysteriously stopped disappearing once you finally left us."

"Did it now? How mysterious." Tony hums, affecting his most innocent expression.

There is a reason why Martins is one of the very few people at MIT Tony has ever really liked. The old crackpot is just as crazy about science as Tony and cares exactly as much about rules as Tony himself does. Meaning, not at all. So, Martins pretending not so see a fourteen year old drinking some of your hard liquor during yet another discussion about quantum mechanics, had been a weekly ritual for the two of them.

And now, Tony is here to give his input on the space probe system Martins and his group are working on for the UN.

Martins' eyes are twinkling in amusement. Then, the old geezer gets right down to business, "So, we finally managed to fine-tune those sensors in the probes. They should now detect anything with a heat signature of its own approaching from 300,000km at the absolute least. That doesn't give us too much advance warning but at least a few hours with this initial set of probes. Now we just have to see about manufacturing these"

Tony nods, rather relieved that they finally managed to figure this out.

"I actually had another thought yesterday," Tony comments. "What would you think of making it a two-fold varied probe net? We could mix in some probes that instead of detecting incoming threats, give a continuous, pulsed signal back to us which immediately shuts off if disturbed in _any_ way. It would make it more difficult for anyone to just hijack our signal or to override the probes' functions and give us at least some sort of warning."

Tony only thought of that yesterday while remembering Thor telling him about how little Asgardians actually think of earth. Because according to Thor, earth is almost laughably primitive compared to a lot of other planets. Thus, it goes to reason that their programming would be rather easily overridden by some of them, as much as that thought pains Tony.

But based on the assumption of earth's technological inferiority, even their most complex ideas are most likely not going to help against a technologically advanced intruder from space.

So, why not go simple? Like probes that have one function and one function alone, probes that cannot be altered, that simply shut off the moment something disturbs them. It would make these probes a one-off, impossible to alter, maintain or repair in any ways without shutting them down. But it would at least be an extra assurance.

Martins hums, his eyes lighting up. "That would actually be rather easy to do and speed up the maufacturing process significantly. Oh, let's call Becker in Hamburg and Williams at NASA, they'll love to hear about this."

Tony just nods, thinking about the second idea he wants to bring up today, which instead of going simple will add a truly complex element to the probe array. Having three layers of varied complexity should make it much harder for any intruders to circumvent their first line of defense.

Out loud he says, "Let's call Oslo and Seoul as well. I have another idea which branches well into nanotech and if we don't bring in Valtersen and Jeong from the start, we'll most likely have to deal with their pouting for _years_ to come."

Martins cackles while nodding in agreement as they make their way down the corridor.

The wonderful thing about Tony's job? There truly are no national borders in science.

 

* * *

 

"Steve, for god's sake, I _can't_ sign off on Wanda's reinstatement. It's not my call. I _know_ you know I don't have any say in this."

"But Tony, they are purposely keeping her away from missions!"

"You _just_ told me, she didn't pass her evaluation. If she didn't pass her evaluation then _that's_ why they are keeping her benched."

"But Tony-"

 

* * *

 

"Yeah?" A voice grunts on the other end of the line.

"Ms. Jessica Jones?" Tony asks.

"Yeah. Who is this?"

"This is Tony Stark."

There is a noise at the other end of the line. It sounds like someone spitting their drink across the room.

Tony keeps the smirk out of his voice as he says, "I have something to discuss with you."

A pause.

"Murdock mentioned you might call."

"Did he now?"

Well, clearly Murdock isn't entirely keeping to the NDA he signed. But well, at least it makes Tony's job much easier in this instance.

 

* * *

 

"Dr. Stark, drawing from your experience with the Chitauri, how much fire power do you think would be required to-"

 

* * *

 

"Dr. Stark, these are the plans for the forcefield tech. We improved their resilience against physical disturbance but now we can't seem to shut them off anymore once activated? See, we tweaked the material composition for the reflectors by-"

 

* * *

 

"Logan," Tony says just as the mutant is about to turn around the corner ahead of him.

The gruff man turns around but doesn't respond beyond raising an eyebrow at him. And from beside Logan, Laura is side-eyeing Tony suspiciously, her frown most certainly impressive for an eleven year old.

But, well, that's nothing new. Laura watches everything and everyone with blatant suspicion, even more so for anyone who dares speak to her father. The girl is like a kitten that gets crabby every time her favorite human's attention is drawn away from her.

Although, that comparison is in no way meant to be as cute as it sounds. Because this kitten got literal, adamantium-coated claws, which she most certainly knows how to use. As she was more than happy to demonstrate to Tony previously.

The mini-Wolverine has no impulse control, seems to almost entirely rely on her instincts and her protectiveness of her father is only rivaled by Logan's own uncompromising protectiveness of her.

Tony thinks the two of them are kind of adorable. In the same way that he thinks velociraptors are kind of cute.

Coming to a stop in front of them, Tony says, "So, I might have stumbled across some interesting information."

Logan takes the StarkPad Tony hands him, inconspicuously angled in a way that Laura can't see what is displayed on the screen. Logan clearly picks up on what Tony is doing and promptly does the same, angling the StarkPad in a way that his daughter can't see the screen as he unceremoniously starts swiping through the information.

Which is a good thing.

See, a few weeks back Tony had been filled in on Laura's personal history when Logan had demanded that there had to be something in the Accords that specifically addressed experimentation on mutants and their offspring in any form.

Tony had been horrified by the story and immediately set his lawyers on it. However, Murdock made it very clear from the start that even once the Accords are established, everything that happened before - like experimentation on mutant children for example or the use of mutant DNA without the 'specimen's' consent - would not necessarily be retroactively punishable by law.

Murdock had looked like he was chewing on a lemon even as he said it, clearly itching to go do something about the situation as his alter ego. But Tony knew exactly just who should have any and all information they need to tear whatever remains of Transigen apart.

So, Tony went digging and now that StarkPad holds any and all information to be found about Transigen anywhere, whether it be parts of the company itself, it's board members, any financial backers or even the various scientists that might have scuttled off into the shadows by now.

Tony just continues blithely, "You see I stumbled across these random files, one of which coincidentally mentions your name, so I thought maybe you might have some input on the matter."

Logan continues to calmly tap at the screen for a bit, swiping from time to time.

And Tony uses the time for a brief 'who can pull the most convincingly threatening expressions in the least amount of time' staring contest with Laura. He might actually be losing against the death-glare of a pre-teen, but at one point he can definitely see her mouth twitch, as she is clearly trying to hold back a laugh. Whether it's in humor or in mockery, however...

Finally, Logan reaches the last page of the information on the StarkPad. And when he looks up again there is a dangerous, almost feral grin on the mutant's face.

Tony just gives his own sharp grin in return, a two fingered salute and then turns around to meander his way out of the Mansion. He is entirely certain that by next week there won't be anything _left_ of Transigen or anyone who has ever been involved with their particular brand of research.

And in Tony's opinion, anyone who thought it was a good idea to fuck with Logan's kid in any way honestly deserves whatever is coming to them by way of an adult Wolverine on a rampage.

 

* * *

 

"However, you didn't pick the best time to become a superhero, kid," Tony says to the Spiderling who is currently in the process of inhaling his second pizza and already eyeing the rest of Tony's.

They finished their by now weekly debriefing - if you can call it that - earlier, Peter did his homework, then geeked out over the new web-shooter feature Tony designed for his suit and now they are having dinner.

Seriously, to have the appetite - and metabolism - of a teenager again, much less an enhanced one. Tony is slightly surprised that Peter hasn't eaten his aunt out of house and home yet.

But now the Spiderling has stopped chewing and is looking at him with clear surprise on his face.

"Why? What do you mean?" Peter asks.

And god, would Tony love to continue protecting the kid's beautiful effort-is-all-it-takes view of the world. It's the view of a child, no matter how grownup Peter may seem from time to time. But he has been pushing this conversation back and back and back for as long as he could already. It's time he gives Peter the whole picture. Fifteen year old kid or not.

So, Tony sighs out. "The Avengers screwed up too often, _Iron Man_ has screwed up too often. And the world is going to demand checks and balances for enhanced people soon. Very soon. And that is going to affect you."

There is a pause.

Then, the rather shrewd question of, "What sort of checks and balances?"

What a wonderfully easy way to ask such a complicated question.

And Tony just wants to sigh. Still, he gives himself a mental shake and starts explaining the Sokovia Accords to Peter.

Because if there is one person in the world who deserves the Accords to be the very best that Tony can make them, then it is this teenager who has all the will and conviction in the world to do his utmost best to make his corner of the planet just that tiny bit better.

 

* * *

 

"Murdock, Nelson, how can I help you?" Tony asks, flipping to the left to evade several pieces of falling wall. Falling from the building that is currently in danger of collapsing, only being kept upright by Tony holding up one of its main supportive walls.

Firemen and police scramble several meters below him to get civilians out of the danger zone.

"There was a new addition to the US Accords to include a sort of tagging of any superhumans who have committed or will commit any sort of crime." Murdock thankfully gets straight to the point.

Tony frowns as he uses the repulsor in his left glove to disintegrate another falling piece of wall about to bury several paramedics beneath it.

"What kind of tagging?"

Tony has been afraid of something like this being suggested at some point. But as long as the Accords intend to keep it similar to the house-arrest sort of foot bracelets that are used on non-enhanced criminals as well...

"The electroshock-giving, permanent kind." Nelson speaks up grimly.

Tony blows out a breath. Well shit.

 

* * *

 

Another day, another panel.

Tony is really starting to get sick of UN headquarters.

But at least the current discussion is actually interesting for once, seeing as the entire room is stuffed to the brim with scientists - the very best of the best in their fields - and several screens show the faces of even more scientists contributing to the discussion from their various labs all around the world.

They are in the middle of a discussion about the forcefield tech and Tony just brought up another entirely new aspect, which had the entire room descend into chaos, everyone caught between exasperation at having the entire project altered and excitement at adding yet another aspect to it.

Scientists. Tony's lot gets bored far too easily.

But Tony has had a rather nightmare-laden week, with the Chitauri featuring rather prominently.

Because Xavier is currently doing his best to help Tony with getting over the trauma of Wanda and the scepter screwing with his head. However, the best way to deal with any fear is exposure and sadly that also applies to telepathic-mindfuck-o-phobia.

And the only reason Tony doesn't absolutely hate going home right now - where there is either another session with Xavier or an empty penthouse waiting for him - is the fact that once Rhodey heard about the Professor's offer, his platypus had immediately put in a request for leave with his superiors and insisted that Tony doesn't start the sessions with Xavier until he got there. So now, Tony's honey bear is living with him at the Tower for a bit.

And the relief Tony feels at having Rhodey there at the Tower with him, helping him ignore his nightmares after every session of a telepathic mutant helping him shore up his defenses against mental attacks from a mind-fucking HYDRA witch, is so all-encompassing Tony can't really put it into words. 

And sometimes Tony just really wishes he could go back to the times where a terrorist ring out for his life at the behest of his greedy, power-hungry godfather was his biggest problem.

Although, the one who helped Tony overcome the worst of his fear was actually Erik. It had taken the mutant only three meetings on the issue of the Accords - and Tony was absolutely right, working with someone as sharp-minded and uncompromising as Erik is great but also endlessly exasperating - to start seeing through some of Tony's masks and thus his apprehension towards Charles' powers despite Tony's best efforts to hide it.

But after a little bit of prodding, Erik had told Tony about his helmet, how it protected his mind from any telepathic influences and then he even generously let Tony do a scan and everything.

And ever since then, Tony's suit - and within the hour of course Rhodey's as well - has been sporting a very particular metal reinforcement within his helmet. And dear god, he can't even put into words just how much of a relief that is.

Of course, it is no where near good enough and Tony still - desperately - wants Charles' help in shoring up his defenses but at least from now on he has some sort of protection at all. From now on, if someone gets into his head, FRIDAY will simply be able to assemble the suit around him. And whoever is fucking with him will simply be cut off. It's not perfect, because of course it requires Tony or FRIDAY noticing someone is in his head at all, and also Erik's helmet hasn't actually been tested against Wanda's specific brand of mind-fucking magic.

But still.

Because setting his personal trauma and end-of-the-world-vision-related fears aside, there has always been that very real threat of someone taking a hold of him telepathically while he is in the suit. There is a reason why Tony is so adamant about not handing over his suit to anyone he doesn't trust. The destructive power within just one of his suits - even more so with his newer nanotech additions - could easily level an entire city. And that sort of power in the wrong hands? Where would that leave the rest of the world? So, knowing that at least no one will be able to turn him into a puppet while he is in the suit is already a huge relief to him.

It's _something_. And it lets Tony breathe a little easier. 

Either way, thanks to his regular sessions with Xavier his nightmares are currently full of visions of death, of alien invasions, of the cold, dark emptiness that is space, filled with countless alien ships waiting to make their way towards earth. And the one thought playing on repeat in his head is, 'What if we _hadn't_ been able to keep the army on the other side of that portal out? What if we _hadn't_ been able to contain the invasion?'

Restricting the alien invasion to a singular, defined site had been their only - and their crucial - advantage during the entire Chitauri invasion.

So today, Tony showed up to this science panel at the UN with the singular goal of having the forcefields designed in a way that will allow them to recreate that particular advantage in case of another alien invasion.

Without a Norse god oh-so-conveniently choosing the one location on earth least likely to let him succeed.

...which is a different topic altogether. A topic that has been on Tony's mind recently, but which doesn't belong into this particular discussion at all. 

"Stark is right," Miyamoto - one of Tony's old rivals from his MIT days - is saying. "Using the forcefields to protect the cities and civilian population is all well and good, but it would be even better if we could use them to keep something _in_ as well, to keep aliens contained to a specified site."

Tony nods to him in thanks - their rivalry had always been less based on disagreeing and more on trying to outdo each other - and continues, "At this point, containing an invasion to a singular site is the only way we would be able to effectively defend ourselves if we are invaded either by a technologically more advanced species or a physically enhanced species. We would not be able to fight either of those melee style. If we have them contained however, we should be able to at least take out large chunks of their army before we have to worry about the one-on-one aspect of fighting them."

There are numerous nods from all sides - god, it's wonderful to be surrounded by rationally thinking human beings - and one of the scientists from Clearing's group in Singapore speaks up from one of the screens, "But we would have to make them portable in some fashion. We can't possibly cover the entire globe with random forcefields to be activated as needed."

Others nod in agreement. And then they are off, the entire room breaking off into smaller groups as aspects and potential solutions are discussed, some scientists flitting from group to group to hear everyone's ideas.  

And Tony just leans back to let them figure out the details. He's sure someone will bring him up to speed later once some sort of consensus is reached.

Instead he crosses one thing off his mental checklist and runs through the remaining, seemingly endless items on that same list he still needs to get done today.

 

* * *

 

Tony listens to Rhodey tapping away at his terminal as they once more dig through his servers for more fragments of JARVIS' code.

The folders of code fragments are getting larger and more numerous every time they do this, which should be a good sign. But on the other hand, some of these fragments are so tiny, so fractured and seemingly random that most of them are unlikely to be usable at all.

Some nights, Tony lies awake, unable to sleep as he is plagued by doubts of just how much of JARVIS he will be able to actually put back together in the end.

But either way, he'll be damned if he just gives up on his friend without giving it his best shot.

 

* * *

 

Tony is tired.

So incredibly fucking tired.

Everything seems to be picking up speed lately.

And the list of things to get done - the daily number of calls to his phone, the emails concerning truly important shit, the meetings with the real bigwigs - just seems to get longer and longer every day, no matter how much Tony manages to get done the day before.

What little time he has between meetings and panels and discussions is spent talking to anyone enhanced he can hunt down. By now he has made contact with pretty much all out-and-proud supers in the US and even most of the entire American continent.

So, check that off the list.

Next up, Europe.

Tony sighs as he goes through the information FRIDAY has gathered for him on Spain's apparently already existing superhero network. That's actually very promising and something to build on. And Tony will just have to contact their unofficially official leader and that's an entire country checked off the list.

Now, if only Tony could find the time to sleep, that would be grand.

As if on cue, his phone rings.

Tony slumps slightly when he sees it's from a lab at Stanford and signals FRIDAY to pick up.

"Hey, Stark! You got to hear this! We just figured out how to stabilize the forcefield under-ground coverage!"

Tony listens as another of his old professors rambles at him about the forcefield tech. He tiredly rubs his eyes and wistfully thinks of sleep.

But alas, as they say, there is no rest for the wicked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this impression of everything that is happening in the build-up to the Accords. There is no exact timeline for this chapter but it takes place over several weeks at least. Also, there is a lot (a LOT) of information buried in these segments (but the fully written out scenes were starting to reach a truly ridiculous word count, so I really had to come up with a way to shrink it down XD).
> 
> The next chapter will be similar (with the final lead up to the Accords) and I already have scenes for Deadpool, Hope, Harley, T'Chaka and some Avengers-related tidbits written. If you think anything else should be added to that list, please let me know (I'm sure I'll forget something or someone essential, so any help is definitely appreciated ^^).
> 
> Also, as you can tell I decided to keep Laura (you guys were quite insistent on that ^^), but I'm only keeping her back-story and entirely ignoring everything else from 'Logan'. It just doesn't fit into this 'verse. Like at all.
> 
> And thanks so much for your comments and kudos! I absolutely adore you guys for actually arguing various points of this story with me! Seriously, you guys are wonderful!


	13. Preventive intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More unspecified time skips!
> 
> Thanks to **thesecretsoftheuniverse** for the input on how to make Wakanda fit into this 'verse! And to **xfphile** for being such a fantastic beta!

Tony is entirely focused, ignoring everything except for the screens in front of him. The screens which are aglow with segments of JARVIS' beautiful orange code.

He is in the workshop, AC/DC playing loudly over the speakers but not too loud, most of his attention for once focused on a single task.

Because Tony actually slept well for once and he doesn't have any fixed appointments today, so he feels confident about his ability to focus on putting some of JARVIS' subroutines back together.

Ever since Rhodey's impassioned rant a few months ago - about imbecilic government agencies and arrogant coworkers, about _putting their friend back together_ \- they have spent hours upon hours, entire days, combing through Tony's servers looking for even the tiniest fragments of JARVIS' code.

Any files, segments, fragments that they find are collected and sorted in FRIDAY's specifically designated 'Big Brother' folders. His baby girl actually named those folders herself, at some point clearly having decided that it is _her_ job to protect who Tony told her would have been her older brother as long as JARVIS is unable to do so himself.

And boy, does she take her self-assigned job seriously.

Tony knows she has several backups of the folders - although he is also quite sure that he doesn't actually know about all of them -, frequently updating them to include any newly added files, stored in various locations, including the most secure parts of Tony's servers and with several firewalls on top of Tony's own security.

Yeah, no one is ever going to get their hands on those files. As protective as she is being, there is a very realistic chance that she might turn Skynet before she lets anyone mess with her brother.

Even Rhodey only has permission to _add_ whatever he finds of JARVIS' code to the folders, because the only person she will grant access to the files already _in_ those folders is Tony.

And Tony is so incredibly proud of her and at the same time he wants to coo at how adorable his baby girl is being.

But still, despite spending countless hours on their search, they are nowhere near done. Because JARVIS' extensive, beautiful, complex, ever-growing code had long since outgrown a single location and instead made its home anywhere and everywhere, in all kinds of nooks and crannies of his servers. And Tony's server network is truly massive.

By Tony's estimation they have probably managed to gather about forty percent of JARVIS' code now and parts of what they found is so incredibly fragmented that he will likely be unable to actually make use of it.

But at least there are also some silver linings, like those few, only slightly damaged subroutines they have found scattered through Tony's servers.

They have found a few of those and despite practically itching to fix them, Tony hasn't dared to touch them on days where he has numerous appointments sending him to various parts of the country or lack of sleep barely lets him focus on any single task at all. Which describes pretty much _every_ day of the past few years.

Which brings him to today - a day without scheduled distractions and even a healthy amount of sleep - and Tony being entirely focused on going through these subroutines one by one with a fine-toothed comb - fixing any breaks in the coding, filling in blank segments, tweaking the code to allow for self-repair once activated in some places.

Before this first real attempt to fix any of JARVIS' fragmented code, he had been endlessly worried whether he would even be able to do it, but so far it has been going great. Tony feels almost giddy with how _easy_ it is for him to tweak JARVIS' code, how very truly absolutely familiar he is with it, its structure and quirks, that the break in the code almost seem to be fixing themselves as his fingers fly over the keyboard.

And suddenly, the idea that he might be able to _fix_ this - might be able to make up for his failure, for screwing up so badly with ULTRON, for getting his friend killed - doesn't seem so farfetched any longer. Sure, it will take a long time - possibly years - until Tony manages to get anywhere close to putting him back together, but who _cares_ about that.

Tony is getting JARVIS back. And that's all that matters.

So, if it's up to him, Tony doesn't intend to leave his workshop at all today, not as long as he has the ability to focus like this on fixing JARVIS. Because the moment he even slightly doubts his ability to focus, he will not touch JARVIS' code any longer, will not risk screwing something up. Not with this.

But as usual, he can only shut out the world for so long before someone comes insistently knocking.

So, he isn't really surprised when the moment he finishes his final read through of the code he has been working on and leans back in his chair, FRIDAY is lowering the volume of the music playing over her speakers.

"Boss, there is a call from the royal house of Wakanda waiting for you," she announces.

Tony feels his eyebrows rise in surprise as he looks up at one of her cameras.

The royal house of Wakanda? Well, well, well. That's certainly a first.

And it's also not easily ignored.

_Damnit, world. Is it really too much to ask to just get one day to myself? Just one day to work on something that is important to me personally and not about saving the entire damn planet?_

He sighs in exasperation. Although honestly, he is feeling far too happy at how well the repair of JARVIS' code has been going to even get really annoyed right now.

Then something else about FRIDAY's phrasing occurs to him. "They been waiting long, baby girl?"

"Just fourteen minutes and forty-seven seconds, boss," she replies, sounding entirely unapologetic about keeping whoever is calling on hold until Tony finished fixing this part of her older brother's code.

She's certainly got her priorities in order, his baby girl.

Tony approves.

He just grins at one of her cameras in appreciation, even as he finally gestures for FRIDAY to put the caller through  to him.

The line promptly clicks, but before Tony can even say anything, a woman's voice states, "Dr. Stark, my name is Anaya. I'm the aid to the royal house of Wakanda. Please hold for King T'Chaka."

There is a beep, then silence.

Rude.

Tony slightly rolls his eyes at the power play of them now making _him_ wait in return.

Sure, his baby girl didn't put them through to him immediately but there is such a thing as requesting a call-back - something he knows FRIDAY would have offered - so it's their own fault if they instead decided to wait. Seriously, Tony is _always_ busy. People very rarely actually manage to reach him on their first try, but usually they don't have any problems with requesting for him to just call them back.

But, oh well., to each their own.

And it's time for a break anyway. He reaches for the food he's got stacked off to the side - no working on JARVIS' code on an empty stomach - and cheerfully munches on one of the sandwiches he had delivered as he waits, while once more glancing over the endless lines of code displayed on his screens and contemplating the fact that he is apparently about to speak to the King of Wakanda.

Wakanda. The country that has been hiding in the shadows, pretending to be a nation of simple farmers, who couldn't possibly have anything to offer that might interest the rest of the world, no resources or technology or scientific advancements. Nothing at all.

Hiding the fact that they are sitting on a literal _mountain_ of vibranium, that some of their medical advancements make the rest of the world look like they are still living in the dark ages and that - when the UN was discussing how to develop something to protect their entire planet from extraterrestrial invasions - they already _have_ a tried and tested forcefield technology available.

They said nothing.

And Tony is actually kind of looking forward to seeing how they will play things with him, whether they will try to keep up the pretense of not being as developed as they actually are. Which would almost be kind of cute.

Because Tony sure as fuck wasn't born yesterday.

Right after finding out about the Accords, Tony had done an in-depth check on all parties involved in drafting that first proposal.

King T'Chaka had been on that list and digging into him and thereby Wakanda had been far more interesting than Tony had anticipated.

Because servers that he can't just hack into with barely any effort? Yeah, those are rare.

Servers that actually make him crack his metaphorical knuckles? Tony hasn't run into anything like that in _years_.

But servers that made him roll up his _literal_ shirtsleeves as he had to take one of his terminals entirely apart, redesign and reassemble it just for this specific task, just so he could match their tech? Yeah, no. Gotta say, that's a first.

The entire situation, the challenge of it almost had him giddy with glee.

And even with a set of entirely redesigned servers and completely reprogramming the way his tech worked itself around others' code, Tony still had to create a completely new programming language from scratch just so he could apply his skills to their systems at all.

And even then, it had still taken him quite a while to weasel his way into their servers.

Although, that was mostly because he absolutely didn't want to be detected.

Because at that point he had long since realized that there was something fishy about Wakanda, something secretive and hidden. And while Tony quite enjoys poking sleeping dragons, he only does so once he knows what sort of mythical creature he might be waking.

Point is, in the end he had succeeded to sneak into their systems and he is quite certain no one knows he has ever been in their servers at all - for once he hadn't actually left any sort of bugs behind, because with a system as sophisticated as Wakanda's it had simply seemed too risky that they might detect it after a while - and what he had found had been amazing. On several levels.

Amazingly fascinating and also amazingly _frustrating_.

Because, why in the world is a country as developed as Wakanda shutting itself off from the world like that? Why are they keeping all their advancements in technology and medicine to themselves?

Tony doesn't get it.

See, while Tony is used to being ahead of everyone in every part of the game, he _always_ lets everyone else take part in the newest advancements once he has figured out how to make it universally accessible, user friendly and affordable for everyone.

And it's always about adding new features, new ideas, new technological concepts to each new release of Stark tech, pushing the boundaries of the consumers as much as he can, trying to drag everyone along with him towards scientific advancement as quickly as he possibly can.

Sure, it might take him a while to figure out how to get his advancements out to the general public, but once he does, he always makes it accessible to _everyone_.

Advancement for the betterment of humanity. Isn't that the entire point?

But apparently, Wakanda disagrees.

Admittedly, it might also sting Tony's pride a little to know that someone else not only managed to get to a similar level of technological advancement as him in some areas, but also that they apparently managed to make that technological advancement available to their entire country.

And that's without even mentioning, how much Tony would have loved to have an actual competitor in the game, someone chasing his heels or whose heels to chase. Sure, Tony is already pretty amazing on his own - if he says so himself - and his curiosity and drive to figure out how to do things better, to find new, different, faster, better ways to do something is the main driving force behind his inventions. But a lot of his accomplishments are also a direct results of boredom and - depending on the decade - alcohol and sleep deprivation.

Just imagining what he could have achieved if he had his competitiveness, his need to always be at least one step ahead as an additional force propelling him forward, or even just the option to work off of the inventions and discoveries of others...

The vision of what the present might have looked like - the technological advancements, the medical, scientific, economical progress they could have made if Tony and his R&D ducklings hadn't had to discover _everything_ on their own in their need to drive science forward - almost makes him shiver.

But instead of sharing in Tony's attempts to improve everything that science can touch, Wakanda had happily advanced on their own and kept everything to themselves, not even deigning to share with their closest neighbors.

And Tony doesn't get it, doesn't like it, and it's making him endlessly suspicious.

Because people - or nations - hiding in the shadows under the guise of weakness while actually being more powerful than most others around them... Yeah, there is _nothing_ in that description that sounds even remotely benevolent.

So, once he figured out just how much Wakanda was hiding, Tony decided to proceed with caution - even if he will wait to pass judgment on an entire country until he at least figures out what their actual reasons are - for now. No matter how much he wants to get his hands on their tech to take it apart and study and improve.

So, yeah. Tony is actually looking forward to seeing just how this conversation will play out.

And Tony might not have grown up as a royal but he's quite sure that his life - of constant media attention, a life of meeting dignitaries from all across the world, navigating the dangerous minefield that is politics and continuous, constant clashing with the greatest minds their planet has to offer - has prepared him more than sufficiently for this particular conversation.

The other end of the line clicks.

"Dr. Stark, thank you for holding. The King has time for you now," the same person as before declares.

Tony rolls his eyes once more.

Another cheap trick, trying to make it sound like it had been Tony trying to get in contact instead of the other way around.

Ah, the wonderful mental, physical, economical, financial posturing that is politics.

Seriously, most days it seems like little more than a pissing contest between intellectuals.

There is a beep and finally the deep voice that he recognizes from various UN meetings speaks up, "Dr. Stark." 

So, Tony leans back in his chair, focusing his attention on this possibly rather important call and replies cordially, "King T'Chaka."

_Let's see what sort of mouse this cat thinks he's chasing._

 

* * *

 

"Pep, I'm sorry, I won't be able to make the next board meeting," Tony sighs, rubbing his eyes. "There is a demonstration of the new and improved forcefields in Singapore next week. Apparently, they finally finished a prototype, so I _have_ to be there."

God, he feels bad for doing this to Pepper. He promised her he would be there for the board meeting. It's about the funding of SI's new defense technology subdivision that Tony has practically - sometimes literally - been begging for ever since his trip through the wormhole over New York and, _damnit it all_ , he wants to be there to help push it through.

"Okay, Tony." She is watching him almost worriedly. "You look tired. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Pep." He is fully aware that his smile might be missing some of its usual shine. "Just a lot going on right now."

He can see Pepper nod on her screen. There is another few minutes of silence before seems to shake herself, asking with much more determination in her voice, "When will you be leaving? Will you still be here for the weekend?"

"I should be." Then, he amends with a mirthless grin at the camera, "Well, at least that's the plan."

"Okay." She nods. "How about I come a little earlier on Saturday and we'll work out how to convince the board members without you having to be there? And maybe FRIDAY can work out a gap in your schedule in Singapore, so you can actually join the discussion via video call? At least for the initial pitch?"

Brilliant girl that she is, FRIDAY promptly speaks up, "There is a scheduled two-hour break between the demonstration and the panel discussion afterwards."

"Even just an hour should be more than enough to push through those motions we want, Tony." Pepper nods decisively on her screen.

Tony immediately nods in agreement, sighing in relief.

"God, what would I do without you two?" He directs a smile at the camera, speaking to both of the women in his life.

"Never leave your workshop."

It's said in unison and Tony just smiles wider in response.

 

* * *

 

Tony waits, listening to the dial tone.

This is already his third try with this particular number. He even knows that the person he is calling could have picked up the phone every time he called - FRIDAY always makes sure to check that whoever he is calling is actually available - but clearly Remy LeBeau doesn't feel the need to pick up a call from a random number.

So now, Tony just asked FRIDAY to simply keep the phone ringing on the other end, no matter what the mutant tries to do to stop it.

Hnpf. It's LeBeau's fault for not getting himself a StarkPhone. The protections on other phones are laughably easy to hack. Well, not like hacking into SI tech would have been much of a hurdle either. But still, his point stands.

Finally, someone picks up on the other end.

"What?!" A clearly annoyed voice grunts into the phone.

"Mr. LeBeau?" Tony asks casually, as though he doesn't know exactly who he forced into taking his call.

"That's me." It's said with an almost impressive amount of irritation, something almost like a threat in the mutant's voice.

"This is Tony Stark. I have something to discuss with you."

A pause.

"Well, color me surprised." The man suddenly sounds amused, none of his irritation remaining. If anything he seems intrigued. " _The_ Tony Stark calling little old me. At least that explains why my phone suddenly lost all its usual functions. Couldn't even shut the damn thing off anymore."

Tony grins. He so enjoys dealing with people who know how to simply take things in stride.

 

* * *

 

"Agent Ponds, I assure you, I have not been signing off on missions for the Avengers. I am well aware that that is not within my purview. In fact, I haven't had contact with the team beyond them asking for help with getting Wanda reinstated as a full member a few weeks back, which I couldn't help them with either. And I haven't kept tabs on them in any way, shape or form, so I don't know anything about any missions to Hungary," Tony says while doing his best to not let his frustration at the entire situation show in his voice.

Gods, he _knew_ that the team - that group of moody teenagers playing at being adults - would keep causing trouble for him.

Because, apparently, the Avengers have continued skipping around Europe for some reason, without authorization of course. And Tony is not even going to ask whether the team actually claimed it was Tony who sent them there or whether the DIA came up with that idea all by themselves.

He honestly just doesn't want to know.

 

* * *

 

"Next question." Tony points at a random reporter waving her hand in the air.

"Maria Simmons, Washington Post. What is your take on-"

 

* * *

 

"Dr. Stark, thank you for joining us," the Brazilian delegate greets him.

"Thank you for having me," Tony replies with a nod.

"We would like to discuss the upcoming launch of the space probe net and your assessment of potential risks to the-"

 

* * *

 

"Mr. Reyes," Tony greets, when the line clicks.

There is a grunt. And then a loud, all-encompassing noise comes over the speakers.

Tony tilts his head. That almost sounded like an explosion.

He shrugs.

Well, he's been warned that Ghost Rider's solution to every problems seems to involve the use of fire. An _excessive_ use of fire.

Not his business what his fellow superheroes get up to in their free time.

 

* * *

 

"Mr. Stark, please answer the question of how many nuclear warheads would be required to take out an alien army in your estimation."

"As I have said before, Senator, that is not a question I can answer." Tony is barely keeping himself from rolling his eyes or reenacting that rather infamous 'asshat' moment from his early Iron Man days. "For one, I cannot tell you a number that would apply for all alien armies for the simple reason that I have seen all of _one_ army so far and I have no idea whether what I saw is the norm or small or enormously large. And second, firing nuclear bombs at aliens that have already made it close to our atmosphere is a ridiculous notion because we would erase _ourselves_ with that move right alongside the aliens. The radiation alone would kill us."

The Senator looks just as annoyed as Tony feels. "But what would be your estimate?"

And Tony wants to throw something at the guy or maybe have FRIDAY pull the fire alarm or something. Anything to get out of this meeting. They've been playing this game for almost twenty minutes now and are clearly getting nowhere.

 

* * *

 

"This is Hope van Dyne speaking. Thank you for waiting."

Tony pauses, not quite sure how to address her. Then he shrugs internally and decides to entirely circumvent addressing her directly the same way she is doing with him, "Thank you for taking my call."

There is something very much like amusement in her voice when she says, "Well, this is the first time you've called me since we finally passed the age of prank calling. I figured it must be important."

" _Passed_ the age of prank calling? Speak for yourself." Tony can't help but grin at the banter.

Hope and Tony have never _not_ been at each other's throats, not even due to personal dislike but simply because they were both all too happy to copy their fathers' antagonism towards each other. They haven't seen each other in literally decades but their parents used to run in the same circles, so they saw quite a bit of each other as children. And Tony cannot recall whether they have ever had a conversation that didn't end with Hope throwing something - Tony truly excels at exasperating others, it's a gift - while he fled the room to avoid being hit by a vase or other flying objects.

But that is hopefully about to change.

Tony feels himself sobering at that thought. Bringing Hope into the Accords issue is risky, because he can definitely see Hank trying to use this information to undermine Tony's standing with the UN and with the government for no other reason than to be spiteful.

But he is kind of counting on Hope's willingness to keep this conversation - and its implications - to herself for now.

Because Tony could really use her help.

Recently, he has been spending a lot of time talking to superheroes all around the globe, widening his network.

Because he can tell the Accords are going to be made official soon. The documents are pretty much finalized, having reached a point where the politicians are clearly only waiting for something to happen - some sort of soapbox to present itself - that lets them magic the ready-made legal document from their not-so-magical hats while public opinion is on their side.

So, in the past few weeks Tony has been aggressively speeding things with contacting superheroes along, wanting at least one point of contact in every major region on earth, even better if he can manage at least one for every country. And thankfully, he has been largely successful as well.

Well, he is still entirely missing the Middle East, but the name 'Stark' - understandably - has a very different connotation there than it does most everywhere else on earth. All of his attempts to make friendly contact with _anyone_ in that area of the world have entirely fallen through.

It looks like Tony will just have to wait until the Accords are official before he can get somewhere in those countries.

But the point is, he has recently been focusing more and more of his attention on other countries' superheroes. And the more he spreads out his network, spreads his resources, his time, the less he has to focus on the US side of things. Which is unacceptable.

Of course, he has others who help him. Like Charles and Erik, who have long since taken over a lot of the workload from behind the scenes, or like Murdock and Jennifer Walters, who take care of the legal side of things.

However, while gathering the voice of the superhumans that linger at the fringe of their society is all well and good, realistically Tony needs more support from the upper end of society. As sad as it may be, there are always some politicians who are far more likely to listen to someone with financial and economical power voicing their complaints.

And while Tony is a powerhouse - possibly the most influential person in the world if it really comes down to it - if he tries to take on the US _and_ the UN version of the Accords at the same time, while having to communicate with superhumans from all across the world, he risks spreading his resources too thin to be as effective as he would like.

So.

He needs someone else to take point on the US version of the Accords. Someone with an actual name in society, a name like his, a name with political pull and who would be willing to throw their weight behind Tony's cause.

And Tony knows about the Pym Particle, knows about Antman and the Wasp, knows that Hope will be affected by the Accords in much the same way that Tony will, as in 'by choice'. Because at any point, both of them can chose to never put on their suits again and thus immediately free themselves of any newly implemented restrictions or regulations.

And while that seems utterly unfair when considering what all might potentially go wrong for those who do _not_ have that choice, it also gives the two of them quite a bit of additional power.

Because any politician who decides to really make a legitimate effort to go against them, will be well-aware of this extra option available to them, will know that these Accords will in no way actually hinder Hope or Tony, if they choose not to let it. And thus, pissing them off would mean making quite the formidable enemies.

So.

Tony decided to take the risk of bringing in Hope.

For one, he has built up the superhuman network to a level that he can deal with his efforts being brought into the open at this point. It wouldn't be ideal, but he could deal and rely on his contacts across the globe to get the ball rolling in their individual countries.

And secondly, the Accords are just one catastrophe away from becoming official at this point, which might be any day now. So, Tony needs to get ahead of having to deal with the UN and the US version.

But lastly and most importantly, Hope has always been a reasonable human being, growing into her role much quicker than Tony did. He is certain that she is just as aware of her father's faults as Tony is of Howard's, so there is a very realistic chance that she might not only be willing to step up to the plate in regards to the Accords but also to keep her knowledge on the down low for now.

Well, here's to hoping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as you can tell I didn't manage to squeeze the final lead-up to the Accords into this chapter after all. It was turning into an absolute monster of a chapter, so I had to split it in half. At least most of the next chapter is already written, so I'll hopefully be able to update again soon :) And I would love to know what you think, especially about how I decided to bring in Wakanda!
> 
> Again, there is no exact timeline for this and there will be one more chapter like this, but then I'll probably go back to my usual style of writing :)
> 
> And thanks so much for your comments and kudos! You guys are just wonderful (*^^*)


	14. Bracing for intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to **xfphile** for being such a wonderful beta!

"Dr. Stark, what are your opinions on the plans we sent you about-"

 

* * *

 

"Dr. Stark, what made you consider starting the new SI scholarship system for young geniuses? Does it have anything to do with-"

 

* * *

 

"Dr. Stark!"

Tony turns - he was so close to escaping, dammit, just a few steps away from the door out of the UN headquarters - raising his eyebrows at the harried looking woman scrambling after him. 

The woman - Tony can't quite recall whether she is one of the delegates or one of the envoys - quickly catches up to him. "Would you have a moment to discuss the algorithm for the magical portal detection? We think we have figured out a different way for detecting the spatial disturbance itself, but now the simulation predicts a problem once we try increasing the distance from the ground."

Tony is already nodding and turns to follow her to some meeting room for yet another scientific discussion.

Dinner will have to wait.

 

* * *

 

"Then _what_ in the name of all that is holy, Steve, were you doing in Budapest in the first place?!"

"I can't tell you, Tony. That's classified." Cap's voice has that stubborn 'I know best, why are you questioning me' undertone that drives Tony _up the damn wall_ every time.

"Oh, come on, Rogers. This is just like the last two times that had me fielding calls from the DIA all day because for _some_ reason they are under the impression that I have been sending the team on unsanctioned missions without informing them. They clearly don't know _anything_ about these missions and thus couldn't possibly have classified anything. You not wanting to tell me is not the same thing as it being _classified_."

Of course, Steve promptly changes the topic back to his initial reason for calling once he realizes he's not going to win.

"But Tony, they changed the setup of the Quinjet! It requires a mission authorization code now in order to start the engines! They can't just do that! What if there's an emergency and we need to leave quickly?"

Tony just pinches the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

 

* * *

 

"Welcome, Tony," the talk show host titters. "And may I say it is a _pleasure_ to have you here with us."

Well, she is certainly laying it on thick. Alrighty then, challenge accepted.

"Thank you, Cara. It's good to see you again as well. How have you been?" He lets his media smile widen as FRIDAY murmurs in his ear - she learns so fast, his baby girl. "I heard your dog Gigi had some terrible health problems. Is she doing alright?"

The host is unsuccessful in entirely hiding her gobsmacked expression and Tony just keeps himself from cackling out loud.

See? No one can out-schmooze Tony.

 

* * *

 

Tony absently bobs his head along to the music playing over FRIDAY's speakers as he continues to tweaking the wiring in his suit's new rocket thrusters.

The new thrusters which will allow Iron Man to reach a much higher altitude than he currently can within moments. You know in case there is ever another nuclear missile heading for his city but this time without an oh-so-conveniently located portal close by to just throw it through, requiring Tony to actually make the trip to space to get rid of it. Or maybe in case he ever has to pursue someone _into_ space, to hunt them down. Or in case he ever has to meet an extraterrestrial envoy somewhere in the further reaches of their own atmosphere. Or in case of any of the other should-be-ridiculous scenarios his brain keeps coming up with.

The past few years have certainly taught Tony to erase 'that couldn't possibly ever happen in real life' from his thoughts and to instead just plan for any and all eventualities, no matter how ridiculous and-or paranoid they might seem to anyone else. Because it's infinitely better to have countless never-to-be-used features built into his suit, than ever being caught off guard in a situation where he doesn't have what he needs, where his suit lacks that one feature that he would need to save himself, someone else, a city or the entire damn planet.

So, yeah. Gotta plan ahead. Which means rocket thrusters for his suit that will allow him to outpace most everything else they currently have on earth regarding speed and will allow him to go to space if he ever truly needs to.

Tony very deliberately keeps his mind away from actually _thinking_ about the vast blackness of space, away from alien ships and alien armies and running out of air because he had built Iron Man to fight terrorist cells and not ever considered that he might ever have to take his suit to space to do the same with alien armies. Because thinking about it, that way lies madness. Quite literally.

And the only reason he is even able to compartmentalize like this at all - push the memories aside without feeling that inescapable, nagging, tearing need to go find himself a drink - are his conversations with Professor X.

Their conversations had actually just started out as Charles helping Tony with shoring up his mental defenses and helping him develop an awareness for foreign presences in his head. But they had gotten through that pretty quickly actually. Tony is nothing if not a quick learner.

But between Accords discussions and Tony tinkering with the X-Men's tech and Charles teaching him how to keep psychopaths from fucking with his mind, they also talked.

And it didn't take Tony and Charles long at all to realize that they have more in common than just their wish of keeping the world and as many people as possible on it safe from whatever threats may cross their path.

They talked about their childhoods and being so different from anyone else that you are always on the outside looking in. About an adolescence of figuring out how to _use_ that difference, learning how far you could go, how much power you _could_ have if they wanted to, realizing that if you wanted to there would be no one in the world with the power to truly put you down. And about finally learning to fear yourself, being afraid of what you could be capable of, to the point that you are not sure whether you should be doing anything at _all_ , lest you unintentionally rip the world apart.

It's a little insane how many experiences they share, even if it is from entirely different viewpoints. And it's nice to have someone to talk to on equal footing, someone who gets it and who is willing to listen, who never takes the moral high ground, who congratulates his successes and never condemns him for his failures, who understands that sometimes _trying_ might just have been the best that you could do even if it turned out not to be enough.

So, they talk and the talking is honestly helping Tony with working through at least some of his colorful array of traumas - traumas from alien attacks and mind-rape and willingly sacrificing himself for his city and losing those he loves to genocidal robots that he himself built and not being sure whether your mind is truly your own and so on.

And Tony will take his conversations with Charles - someone who actually _gets_ it - over visiting a shrink every time. The professor makes for an excellent therapist, as much as the man exasperatedly continues denying being anything of the sort.

 "Boss, I have a call from Murdock on the line for you," FRIDAY speaks up, shaking him from his thoughts.

"Thanks, baby girl." Tony just waves for her to put the call through, not looking up from the wiring in front of him. The line clicks.

"Murdock, what can I do for you?" There is no need for nicely worded greetings between them anymore.

At this point - after several months of working with Murdock and Nelson on the Accords - Tony is used to having several conversations with the two lawyers each day and they gave up on the whole hello-how-is-life-treating-you-I'm-well-thanks-for-asking spiel a while ago.

While Tony isn't necessarily friends with them - they just don't have time for chit-chat during their calls - their relationship is definitely one of mutual respect and refreshingly direct, bullshit-free communication. Tony honestly likes the two lawyers and he is sure that once the Accords are official and they can stop all this clandestine crap, the three of them will actually get along quite well.

And at this point, Tony can practically _smell_ the Accords, knows that the documents are definitely ready to be released - have been for a few weeks now - even if the various committees continue arguing about aspects of the documents, adding a paragraph here, another amendment there as they wait. Wait for something to happen, for some sort of superhuman-related soapbox to present itself, so the politicians can then promptly present the Accords to the public for the best possible impact.

His lawyers all agree with that assessment as well, waiting for the announcement, using the extra time to fine-tune their arguments for or against various clauses in the Accords.

Thus, for now, every call between Tony and Murdock is work, crisis management or trying to fight some sort of imminent catastrophe.

"Stark," Murdock replies, just as bullshit-free as Tony in their conversations. "I want to bring the Defenders in on the Accords."

That brings Tony up short. He raises his eyebrows, finally looking up from his tinkering.

He knows the Defenders, has met all of them individually and as a group, but only in the context of the superhero network he is building.

Until now, Tony has been incredibly careful about who he actually let in on the Accords, because just one person opening their mouths too soon - or even later during the actual negotiations if people found out just how long Tony has known about the Accords - will throw a massive wrench in all of his efforts to mold the Accords into something more palatable. He would immediately lose a lot of his good standing and credibility with the government and even more importantly, with the UN.

So, yeah. Tony has kept entirely mum on the subject and made sure to impress on the handful of people he let in on it just how important it is for them to do so as well. It was an absolute necessity to keep this quiet until Tony had at least most of his ducks in a row.

But.

The Accords are practically on their doorstep now. Every day Tony gets up expecting to see the announcement on the news or to be summoned by the UN Accords Committee or to receive a call from some high-up US government official on the matter.

And he can also understand why Murdock might want to let in the rest of his team on this.

Tony tilts his head slightly, considering. Maybe it really is time to start bringing in some of the superhumans he has met at this point. If he brings in a few more key players before the actual announcement of the Accords, it should only strengthen everyone's trust in their newly established superhero network. And it would also give Murdock and Nelson some extra time to get started on integrating any new amendments into their already existing endless list.

Tony could just start with a few key players for now, maybe first along the US coasts and then add just a few from other countries who he had a good feeling about when he met them before. Maybe it really is time for the next step.

And the Defenders are as good a place to start as any.

So, Tony just asks, "You sure?"

"Yes," is the firm reply.

"Alright then," Tony nods. He is just going to have to trust Murdock on this. The man has invested just as much - if not _more_ \- time into re-working the Accords as Tony has. He deserves the right to make this call.

Still, Tony can't help but add, "Let me know how things go."

"I will," Murdock confirms.

And that's that, apparently.

 

* * *

 

Ororo is accompanying him on his way out of the Mansion.

Their initial meeting might have been a little bumpy - mostly due to the media image Tony himself has actively fostered over the years and her not seeing any reason not to believe it - but by now, she might just be one of his favorite people in the entire mansion.

Ororo _gets_ him, understands where he is coming from better than most people - even better than his closest friends. Because as much as their backgrounds differ, they have one thing in common. Life has made sure to entirely disillusion both of them to the reality of the world, to true human nature. But the part where she is just like him is that - _in spite_ of that awareness - with every new situation that arises, with every new person they meet, they both are still helplessly hopeful to be proven _wrong_ every single damn time.

It's definitely nice to have someone around who simply gets that weird, almost schizophrenic split of trust and distrust without having to explain himself. Although, aside from that particular understanding they rarely see eye to eye on _anything_ , so their discussions tend to get rather heated. Tony kind of loves it.

"I have been meaning to ask," she speaks up from beside him and Tony looks over at her to show he is listening. "In the beginning, you clearly kept everything about the Accords quite close to your chest. You even kept most of the superheroes you contacted out of the loop beyond just establishing a line of communication with them."

Tony nods, already having a pretty good idea where this is going.

"But you let us in on it right away. You really had no reason to trust us or any way of knowing whether we would chose your side or even mess up your work by going public with it."

"True." Tony shrugs. "But my point stands that mutants are going to be far more affected by this than any other group in our community, not only due to your sheer number but also due to the variation of your abilities. You deserve some extra time to prepare, to get ready." He tilts his head slightly. "But most importantly, _here_ , specifically in this school, there are _children_ involved. There was never even a question whether I would give you an extra heads-up. I could only hope that you wouldn't decide to screw me over."

That seems to be enough of an answer for Ororo as she nods, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Like he said, it's nice to have someone around who just gets it.

 

* * *

 

Tony is so tired he can barely keep his eyes open as he steps outside of the UN headquarters in New York.

But movement from one of the shadows in an alley close by has Tony immediately come wide awake once more.

"Knock, knock. Who's there?" It's a male voice, pitched rather childishly.

And Tony feels himself relax slightly, even as he barely keeps in his sigh. He knows that voice and he is simply too tired for this right now.

Alas, getting rid of Deadpool once the man decides to seek you out is just not possible. And believe him, he tried.

"Wade. What brings you here?" Tony asks, mostly managing to keep the exhaustion out of his voice.

Deadpool's spandexed form immediately flips into view, only to apparently stub his toe on an imagined piece of furniture and start hopping around on one foot, cursing loudly about coffee tables. In the middle of the street.

A second later the man is standing up straight again, nothing to be seen of the supposed pain.

Then, he leans in as though he might be planning to reveal the secrets of the universe to Tony - casting overly, comically suspicious looks around himself. Only to then forgo the soft voice, subtlety or... well, anything that would actually classify his next words as a 'whisper' at all, instead almost sing-songing.

"Well, you know, a little birdie told me that there might be a sniping snipey sniper on one of these roofs tonight looking to play bullseye with a tin can. Which had me thinking. It's such a beautiful night and I just thought I would join him, you know, keep him company, maybe do some stargazing." A dramatically wistful sigh. "There really is nothing as wonderful as gazing up at the stars with a new friend. Even if said new friend might not be entirely comfortable due to having been hamstrung. But, well, can't win everyone, can you? Can you? No, you can't."

During his little rant, Wade has sidled closer and closer to Tony and is now _in_ his space, an arm slung around his shoulders and talking directly into his ear. Rather loudly.

But Tony is kind of used to it at this point.

He had approached Deadpool two weeks ago about the Accords. Only for the man to promptly burst into giggles at the idea that the law could protect anyone - enhanced or not - from being treated as less than human.

The subsequent discussion had left Tony with a massive headache, hurting cheeks from grinning at the man's acerbic commentary at the idiocy of others, a newfound respect for knives as a weapon of choice and - for some reason that Tony doesn't get but won't even attempt to figure out - with a new personal bodyguard. Not that Tony got a say in that, as Deadpool had simply decided to assign himself as Tony's newest protection detail, no input - or permission - required.

Well, usually, Tony just avoids the various attempts on his life by getting a warning from FRIDAY and if worse comes to worst, he can always just let her assemble the suit around him in moments. But admittedly, contrary to his demeanor, Wilson is more than effective and really does seem to take his self-assigned job quite seriously. Tony suspects he might have a pool running somewhere about how many attempts on his life he can foil or something along  those lines.

Deadpool is probably the weirdest superhuman Tony has met so far - and with his trips around the world, seeking out superhumans all across the globe, that's really saying something - and the man is quite likely clinically insane. Wade also comes from the opposite end of the superhero spectrum, the criminal side instead of the 'good side'. Just like Tony whose past as a weapons dealer gives him insight into the dregs of society that those who are truly _good_ , would never be able to even fathom.

And FRIDAY has gathered enough information on him that Tony is quite sure he can rely on Deadpool, because the man seems to be immovable on his stance that there is no justification for hurting an innocent and that there is no such thing as 'acceptable' collateral damage as a consequence of his own actions. It's a mentality Tony can more than get behind.

And as Wade continues to natter into his ear about the crime to humanity that is apparently pizza without cheese crust - his arm still slung over Tony's shoulder - he once more thinks to himself that approaching Wade Wilson might have been one of the better decisions he has made so far in his attempts to contact superhumans. Or it might also have been one of the worst.

Either way, Tony is definitely looking forward to introducing Deadpool to the rest of the superhero community. That's bound to turn out entertaining to say the least.

 

* * *

 

Tony frowns at the screen. He doesn't like what he is seeing here, doesn't like it at all.

How in the world did Ross manage to weasel his way onto the US Accords committee? His history with anything not-entirely-baselevel-human should preclude his involvement from the start.

Tony narrows his eyes.

Clearly, Ross has some contacts, something or someone who got him there and is _keeping_ him there.

Shit.

This is something Tony can't let go. He can't let Ross run unchecked on this, not on an issue as important as this.

That isn't to say that as far as Tony is concerned Ross can't stay on the committee at all - there is definite truth to 'better the devil you know' and with Ross Tony at least has got some pretty effective leverage in hand if he ever really needs to get some sort of additional hold on the man - but Tony can read the rather dangerous trend of just how _much_ power and influence Ross is gaining on the committee. Which is something he simply can't let escalate any further.

Tony frowns.

With as close as the Accords are - he can practically feel the anticipation every time he visits DC at this point - Tony can't be seen actively undermining someone in the government, no matter how justified his interference may be. He neither wants to use even an ounce of his painstakingly gathered leverage nor any of the goodwill with the US government, just to get rid of someone who should never have made it on to the committee in the first place.

Hm. Seems like it's time he calls in one of those favors he is owed from someone who can deal with this in his stead.

"Friday, my girl, would you call Fury in his little hideout for me please?"

Let the one-eyed pirate deal with Ross. Nicky can even get Agent to help him with that if he needs to.

Tony honestly doesn't care whether the two supposedly-ex-SHIELD agents are still - or once more - playing dead or not. He kind of lost track, what with their weird game of supposed deaths and not-so-surprising resurrections. But for all that Tony cares, they can deal with Ross from their not-so-literal graves if they want to. As long as they _do_ deal with him. And do it in a way that neither has Tony make a specific enemy out of Ross nor requires Tony to give up any of his leverage in DC.

It's about time old Nick repays him for some of the shit he put Tony through over the years anyway.

About time, indeed.

 

* * *

 

"Jane! Good to hear from you!" Tony grins openly at the camera.

"Likewise, Tony," is the somewhat absent but honest reply. Tony just ignores the suspiciously frowning brunette lurking behind the tiny scientist's shoulder.

Jane Foster and him were actually thrown together initially because Jane is one of the leading experts in the field of portals - or rather magical travel, because that's a _thing_ in science now. Thus, she had been immediately drafted into the team working on how to detect the opening of any kind of portal anywhere within their atmosphere as an early warning system in case of an invasion.

Of course, Tony had been collaborating on that project - as he does with pretty much anything pertaining potential alien appearances, friendly or otherwise - and once the two of them had met, they had immediately hit it off, bonding over endless amounts of coffee while they lamented about the difficulties of living with superpowered individuals in general and Thor in particular.

Tony really quite likes her. She is one of those rare people who can easily keep up with him on most topics, even leaves him behind in others, takes no shit from anyone and is just as baffled by interpersonal relationships as he is.

"So, what can I do for you, Jane?" he asks.

Her response is prompt. "I found something while comparing the read-out of Thor's various portal things with the Chitauri one over New York. But I don't have the processing power to run the simulations. I need access to-"

And Tony nods as he listens to her describe what exactly she needs, his fingers already flying over his keyboard, tweaking the algorithms she just sent him.

 

* * *

 

It's Sunday afternoon and Tony is dead tired. He just spent four hours in a meeting with the UN Planetary Defense Committee arguing about the necessity - or even feasibility - of installing some sort of super-cannon on the dark side of the moon to fight aliens off with.

And seriously, Tony wants to know who put that particularly asinine idea in the politicians' heads. They kept mentioning 'scientific advisors' and it's been a while since he turned someone into a laughing stock in their community, and, well, whoever it was, that idiot definitely has it coming.

But he finally made it out of that meeting. Only to then get waylaid by a group of scientists who just really 'briefly' wanted to get his opinion on some new metal alloy they came up with for their third kind of space probes.

It took him almost two hours to shake them off.

Now, he is almost an hour late to his weekly debriefing/chat/ramble/discussion/oh-my-god-this-is-so-cool meeting with the Spiderling. He asked FRIDAY to inform the kid of his delay and in reply only got a picture of Peter with his school work spread out all over the floor of his penthouse. Apparently, the kid had gotten there early and in his absence decided to spread his chaos to Tony's living space.

Really, the Spiderling has been coming over so often recently that he deserves to have his own room at the Tower. Something which Tony stopped himself just in time from offering the kid directly. Because no matter how grown-up he might act sometimes, Peter is still a teenager and you have to be careful with those. Offer him his own room and he is likely to think it's Tony indirectly telling him he is spending too much time at the Tower. _Don't_ offer him a room and Peter is likely to think he is not actually welcome.

So, they settled on the happy medium of Tony offering one of his guest bedrooms for Peter to sleep in from time to time. And by now, the room has been entirely overtaken by the kid's chaos.

He still isn't entirely certain how to work with the Spiderling's oh-so-clear attachment to him. Tony has never been a mentor before. He's still not sure what to make of that strange mixture of terror and pride and the need to coddle but also wanting to push and being there but not hovering. In all honestly, it's rather confusing and really rather quite exhausting.

His friends are also no help whatsoever.

Last time he asked Rhodey about how to handle having a teenager setting up shop in his penthouse and asking for Tony's opinion on his life choices, his platypus had just grinned at him and said, 'Enjoy fatherhood.'

Hnpf. Not helpful at all.

Happy - the traitor - had just asked whether he should refer to him as 'Uncle Tony' or 'Daddy Tony' from now on. Which didn't help his panic in the least.

And Pepper had more or less laughed at him, saying, 'It's just like you to take care to never knock up a single of your one-night stands and to still end up with two teenagers taking over your life.'

Because there are definitely two of those menaces. Peter and Harley. And their takeover of his life has only gotten worse ever since the two kids actually met.

One day Peter had shown up unannounced at the Tower - Tony suspects it's because he wanted pizza and admittedly Tony does get the best pizza in all of New York City - while Tony had been talking to Harley on the phone. Tony thought it was great that the two of them could meet. But at first, the two teenagers had been rather cold to each other, either not saying anything at all or almost sniping at each other - god only knows why - but something must have happened at some point, because now they are clearly friends, going by the amount of time they seem to spend talking to each other.

Well, not so much _talking_ as in on-the-phone - because that's apparently something only old people do -  but they seem to spend a truly ridiculous amount of time texting at all times of the day. 

But point is, Tony now has two teenagers in his life who can get him to agree to pretty much anything just with some puppy eyes and regularly wheedle him into a movie night between just the three of them - Peter sprawling beside Tony on one of the couches in his penthouse and Harley usually joining them holographically from his room in Rose Hill.

And Tony kind of, maybe not-so-secretly adores it all, despite his regular almost-panic-attacks at the thought that there are two kids who rely on his input when making decisions about their life

But point is, Tony is now about an hour late and dead tired and when he more or less drags himself into the penthouse of the Tower he isn't entirely sure he might not be hallucinating.

Because there is Peter arguing something with wide gestures, facing Harley who is on one of the big screens apparently arguing the exact opposite. Both of them are clearly trying to convince Vision of their opinion, who is sitting on the opposite couch from Peter, avidly observing the rather enthusiastic debate. And FRIDAY is apparently using Tony's cutting-edge holographic displays to help both teenagers illustrate their points.

And off to the side there is Rhodey, grinning and clearly having a blast stoking their tempers.

And when FRIDAY greets him with a cheerful, "Welcome back, boss," Peter pops up over the couch with a brief wave, chorusing a simple "Hey, Tony!" with Harley. Before they promptly return to their rather intense discussion.

Vision simply nods in his direction with a slight smile, while his platypus sends him a shit-eating grin.

Tony just stands there entirely baffled for several moments.

Then he feels a tired smile spread over his face and fishes out his phone to make a quick call to the best pizza place in town - knowing this lot would have waited for him with dinner - and then ambles over, gratefully sinking into one of the armchairs to listen to the rather lively discussion.

The discussion doesn't break off in the least even when the pizza arrives, Harley joining them with his own pizza that Tony ordered to his house. _Gasp, the wonders of technology_.

And when the two teenagers finally seem to be settling on some sort of consensus - although it is more of an 'agree to disagree' thing - Rhodey decides to stoke their tempers by chiming in with an entirely new aspect of their discussion.

And they are off again.

His platypus is such a troll.

Vision has clearly caught on to what Rhodey is doing and looks to be well on his way to amusement at this point as well and Tony just leans back and listens, reaching over to steal some of Rhodey's popcorn.

There really are worse ways to spend his Sunday afternoon.

 

* * *

 

The screens around Tony show devastation. Images of destroyed buildings, flipped cars, torn-apart streets, crying people and body bags. The numbers of dead and injured are steadily rising, being announced like football scores.

They are images of an African city. Lagos.

The news are full of shaky video clips - clearly taken by bystanders - of the Avengers fighting an as of yet unidentified group of opponents in the streets, Cap throwing his shield, Nat taking someone down, Wanda's swirling power.

An explosion.

The hologram right in front of him however shows nothing of that sort. It's just the projection of an email. An official invitation to meet with yet another UN panel in New York this coming Friday.

But not just any panel. No.

Because the politicians have finally found their soapbox.

He is being summoned to appear in front of the UN Sokovia Accords Panel.

Tony blows out a breath.

It's showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Accords are here! I actually made it! *phew* Was honestly starting to doubt myself there for a bit XD
> 
> I hope you liked this impression of the final build-up to the Accords :) And again, there is no exact timeline for this but it kind of just continues the last chapter, so assume that at least several weeks passed.
> 
> Also, I'm currently considering whether to make this into a two-part series of before-and-after-the-Accords instead of just continuing this as one single story (depends on how the next chapter turns out). Just to give you a heads-up :)
> 
> And thank you so so much for all your comments and kudos and sticking with me all the way here! You guys are just amazing (#^^#)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Security](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16646174) by [TheSovereigntyofReality](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSovereigntyofReality/pseuds/TheSovereigntyofReality)




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